A Cub's Trials
by Hyena Cub
Summary: A Thunderian cub, enlaved by Mutants, learns courage and worth.
1.

A Cub's Trials 

A Cub's Trials 1 

"GET IN HERE, YOU FURRY WRETCH!" 

In the mess hall, where he was cleaning up after the Mutants' less than clean lunch hour, the small Thunderian cub cringed at the voice. He immediately set down his cloth and timidly stepped out into the hallway, headed towards the conference room, where the four ranking Mutants were holding council. The frightened child said nothing, only stepped uncertainly in and looked at the four Mutants with bright green, wary eyes. 

S-S-Slithe, who had been the one to call the cub in, smacked him hard across the face. "Never come in here without knocking, yeees!" 

The ocelot cub let out a yelp, but shied away from the Reptilian and nodded, tears welling up in his eyes. 

"Good. We want something to eat during our council meeting, get in the kitchen and bring a tray of ham sandwiches and a jug of ale, got it?" 

Again, the child nodded and slunk out when he was dismissed. He had been in this horrible place for almost a year. His suspension capsule had crashed not far from Castle Plundaar, and the Mutants had found it, and decided the small cactus would make a good slave, not to mention someone to take out their frustrations on. He had been approximately five at the time, he was around six now. Though unwilling at first, the child had been completely broken by this point, and was too terrified to disobey. 

On the way to the kitchen, he was in a hurry, so as not to get punished for being slow; he did not see one of the female Mutants, running right into her, falling on the floor. She snarled and kicked him in the side as she moved around him. "Watch where you're going, runt!" she growled at him. 

Ocellon was used to this kind of thing, and had curled up as soon as he realized who he had collided with. With barely an outcry at the kick, he scrambled to his feet and ran the rest of the way. 

It was not long before the cub was pushing a small cart with the platter of sandwiches he had made and a large jug of ale. "Good," S-S-Slithe hissed. "You were prompt this time. You may have one of these sandwiches. Not get out of here and back to work!" 

The child nodded gratefully and took a sandwich, running out of the room and eating it hungrily. It was the first thing he had been fed in almost two days. By the time he got to the mess hall, the sandwich was gone. 

He once again got on his hands and knees in the filthy dining area, and scrubbed at the floor. He had already cleaned the tables, having learned a long time ago to be quick in his tasks. Sometimes he was smacked for tardiness or slowness, sometimes when his captors were in a bad mood, he was more severely punished. The poor cub was no stranger to the whip, nor the dunking basin in the dungeon. These two were the most frequently used methods of discipline, but he had been beaten with various objects before, and had even been branded when he first got there, to mark him as belonging to Castle Plundaar and its high ranking Mutants. There were other slaves in the Castle...but the unfortunate cub was the only Thunderian. The only non Mutant. 

As he worked, he glanced down at his right hand, which bore the now healed burn scar. This brand was a pair of crossed sabers with "Castle Plundaar" written on it in Plundaarian. It was a large mark that covered his whole small hand, and had hurt when it was done. And it had hurt for a long time, as burns usually do. He also wore a metal collar bearing the same mark, and was kept in chains. He had gotten used to working like that. 

He had been branded one other time: the one and only time he tried to escape. He had gotten far before being caught, but when they did catch him, the ocelot cub had been one sorry feline. They had branded his shoulder with a large "p" for potinn, the Plundaarian word for "escape", and had given the child a severe whipping, after which he was dunked. This entailed Jackalman holding the cub's head underwater until he was on the verge of drowning, with S-S-Slithe beating him with a thick riding crop, repeating it until they could no longer revive him when he blacked out. They almost went too far that time, as the child had nearly died. But the healer of the Mutants was able to bring him back. Ocellon did not try to escape again, as that incident had completely broken him. He was terrified of everyone in the Castle, even the healer and the few who were not cruel like the rest. Evil, yes; cruel, no. 

After a while, Ocellon finished cleaning the mess hall in less time than it usually took for him, and he had been given no other task. As he put the supplies away, he wondered if he would be allowed to rest. He was not usually allowed more than six hours of sleep unless he had done very well or had been very good that day, and then he was allowed up to ten hours of sleep. This rarely happened, as the Mutants were not often in a good enough mood. The same happened with the food: if he did very well, he was fed more, if not, he was fed less. As it was, he was lucky to get fed once a day. His bones were visible through his ill-kempt hide, which was bloodstained and filthy, and many places had no fur either because he had been beaten too many times with the whip, or some other injury had occurred, or simply because of lack of healthy diet. 

S-S-Slithe came in the room just as the cub was finishing up, as the meeting had ended, and looked around. Ocellon cringed as he entered the room. 

The Mutant nodded in approval. "You finished fast, yeeesss? If you are good the rest of the day, I might let you eat supper tonight." 

Ocellon nodded eagerly and waited to be told his next task. 

S-S-Slithe scowled a little and grabbed the cub's filthy, matted mane. "When I am being generous, wretch, I expect some thanks!" 

The boy winced and stuttered, "Th-th-thank y-y-y-you..." It was the first he had spoken, other than a whimper or an outcry, in weeks, not counting anything spoken in his troubled sleep. When he did talk, it was in a quiet stammer. 

"That's better. Get the tray out of the conference room and wash everything, then get down to the fuel room and stoke the furnaces. I want them full by tonight, got it? If you manage that, I will let you eat." 

The boy nodded shakily, and when the Reptilian released his mane, he scampered out, headed for the conference room. 

When that was done, he went to the lower level, just one floor above the dungeon. The furnaces, which ran the whole castle, were big, but they were over half full; that was good, as he was the only one down there. But he had done it before. It was work harder than anyone his age should be forced to do, but he had learned to manage, and got to work. 

By nightfall, the child was exhausted. He was filthier than usual, covered in soot and ash and grease from the engines and furnaces. He had worked half the day in the stifling room, and had nearly passed out twice...but he kept himself from it. He had done that once, and was harshly punished. Surprisingly he had managed to get the whole job done, and was shoveling the last of it in when Monkian came down to fetch him. 

As the child shied away from him, he raised his eyebrows and looked around. "Hoo," he said. "Impressive, furball. S-S-Slithe said you could have supper if you got it done. I guess you earned it. Get up to the kitchen, hoo, hoo." 

Ocellon nodded eagerly and ran out of the room and up the stairs. 

S-S-Slithe was in the kitchen when he got there, and asked the boy if he had finished, and he nodded tentatively. When Monkian came up, he asked him the same, and Monkian confirmed that he had. S-S-Slithe nodded. "Very well. After you have done your dinner duty, you may help yourself to anything left over on the tables." 

Ocellon's eyes lit up. The Mutants were wasteful, and there was usually a lot left over. He would be allowed to have his fill tonight. 

"You can go to bed only AFTER the kitchen and dining hall are clean, however, got it?" 

Ocellon nodded again. "Th-th-th-th-thank y-y-you," he stammered once more. 

S-S-Slithe nodded dismissively. "So what are you waiting for? Get to work, yeeees?" 

Ocellon ran off. 

When the Mutants were done that night with their meal, the cub waited until everyone was gone and happily wandered among the tables, taking what he wanted to eat from the plates and bowls. There was good food that night, better than the scraps or low grade food the child usually was given, and he ate until he could eat no more, and then ate a little bit more. He wanted to take some for later, but he knew he would get into trouble if he did. After he had cleaned everything well, he went downstairs into the dungeon for the night to the small windowless cell he slept in. He had no bunk and only a chamber pot for his toilet that was emptied once a week. But he was able to sleep that night without the constant gnawing hunger he had gotten used to. With a full belly, he quickly fell asleep, not even hearing Jackalman lock him in for the night. 


	2. 

A Cub's Trials 2

Things went on like this for the next few months, making it over a year the boy had been there. He had heard as long as he been a slave there, about the ThunderCats...and he had no idea who they were. He vaguely remembered something about them from before Thundera was destroyed, but he was just too young. He had never seen them. 

There was also one called Mumm-Ra that came to the castle sometimes, and Ocellon was terrified of him. He had never laid a hand on the child, who was forced to serve him if the Mutants told him to, but the young cub could sense the pure, malevolent evil in the ancient being, and stayed away from him as much as possible. 

But as time went on, the Mutants were in a worse and worse mood. They had been getting defeated quite badly by the ThunderCats, and poor Ocellon usually was the target of their anger. He usually tried to avoid them as he went about his duties, but often it was not possible. One day...he made a mistake. He was naturally an awkward child, but he had been fed even less than usual as of late, and allowed little rest, and it was taking its toll. Having been given the task of serving the ranking Mutants: S-S-Slithe, Monkian, Jackalman, and Vultureman, as well as a handful of the head guards and soldiers, Ocellon's fatigue and malnutrition got the better of him, and he stumbled while carrying a tray. Hot soup spilled all over S-S-Slithe. 

Horrified, the ocelot cub only stared for a minute as S-S-Slithe's expression slowly darkened as he growled low in his throat and looked down to the front of his chest. The child had tried to get it to fall on himself instead...then maybe he would only get smacked for wasting it...maybe not fed once. But no such luck. "Uh-uh-uh-I-I-I-I-I-I'm...I-I'm s-s-sorry," the terrified cub stammered, as he set the tray down and reached for a cloth he carried in the waistband of his torn, filthy shorts. 

As the other Mutants looked on, S-S-Slithe snarled angrily at the cub and took a hold of his throat. Ocellon let out a strangled outcry. "That was a big missstake, wretch!" S-S-Slithe growled. He threw the cub to the floor, where he skidded to hit the wall and cowered there in the corner covering his head, tears in his eyes. "GET UP, CAT!!" 

Poor Ocellon was too terrified to move, and would not have been able to stand if he wanted to. He only shook his head with a soft whimper. S-S-Slithe narrowed his eyes and took a hold of the cub by the scruff of his neck and dragged him out of the room. 

He stalked down to the dungeon, the other three Mutants following after him, eager to watch the spectacle, and chained the poor cub to the wall. Ocellon knew what was coming and whimpered a soft plea that he not be beaten. S-S-Slithe ignored it and took a thick whip off the wall. Ocellon watched him fearfully from the corner of his eye, then closed them tight in anticipation. 

S-S-Slithe's lip curled in a cruel smile as he hauled back with the weapon and struck the child's scarred back, leaving a deep, thick slash across it. The poor cub screamed. He struck again. And again. As the young boy sobbed hysterically, the Reptilian had delivered about fifteen lashes before his victim blacked out and slumped on the wall. The frustrated Reptilian growled and retrieved a pitcher of vinegar and hot pepper juice designed for reviving an unconscious prisoner, and forced a good amount down the unconscious youth's throat. 

Ocellon gagged, and his eyes flew open as he sputtered and choked from the vile concoction. Then as his mind cleared somewhat, and he felt the pain from the whipping once more, he again began to cry again. 

"SHUT UP!" S-S-Slithe roared, as he began his cruel beating once more. 

This went on for a long time, until once again they could no longer revive the poor cub. He had not been beaten that severely the whole time he had been there, and had to be sent to the infirmary once more, where the healer shook his head when they dragged him in along the floor by his feet. He was as compassionate as the evil Mutants could get, and he disapproved of how the boy was treated, but he was of a very low status in the Castle, and dared not say anything. 

This time when they brought him in, he wasn't sure if the child was alive or not; it took a careful examination to verify that he was. He had his work cut out for him. 

Ocellon was in a coma for two weeks before he awoke. More than once the healer thought he would lose him, but he didn't, and finally the boy pulled through. With only the healer in the room, he awoke with a terrified scream. 

The hyena Mutant, Hyder, was startled at the sudden noise, but relieved the cub was awake. But he was not sure how to handle the child, he had never dealt with one. "Calm down," he said, going over to him. Ocellon whimpered and drew back from Hyder as he reached out to take his pulse. But he ignored him and took it anyway. The cub was too weak to do anything about it. "Well you'll live," he said to the cub. Though it would be better if he didn't, he thought. "You'll be up and working in about a week." 

Ocellon said nothing, only curled up on the cold metal medical table and softly cried. He had an IV tube in his arm to feed him, and was wearing no clothes. He stuck his thumb in his mouth and only whimpered softly for a few minutes. He did not stop until Hyder left the room. Only then did he quiet and close his eyes. He still hurt, even after two weeks. 

As soon as he was well enough to work, he was given his filthy shorts back and sent out. The cub was so terrified of S-S-Slithe, he tried to stay away from him. But the Mutant leader's mood had become less severe, and things went back to normal. 


	3. 

A Cub's Trials 3

One day, about two months after that incident, the cub had been put to work outside for the first time since he had been there. Not that it mattered, it was nearly as dim and dingy as inside. But at least it was warm, and not so stuffy. He would not mind working outside more often, even if the job was less than desirable. He was emptying the chamber pots from the slaves' quarters into the moat, usually a job for one of the Mutant slaves. But this day it had been regulated to him. His eyes widened as he saw just what lived in that moat...a large, many tentacled thing that reached for him as he approached the side. Glancing nervously back towards the castle, he waited until the thing retreated for the time being before dumping the pot. 

When he was done with that, and had brought all the chamberpots back to the dungeon cells, he was to take all of the weapons in the castle and clean them of the blood and dirt and rust. The Mutants would not trust any slaves but those that they knew were broken; Ocellon would not dare try anything with the weapons. Though it was possible that with a surprise attack that he might kill a Mutant...the others would slowly torture him to death. 

Ocellon had finally dragged all of the weapons out onto the stone slab in the weedy, brown-grassed, thorny courtyard and laid them out. He had a large bucket of water, a harsh soap for the weapons, a brush, and a pile of cloths. There was more than thirty different weapons, including the spare ones and those belonging to lesser Mutants. There were axes and swords and all kinds of blades. A few maces and even one of Jackalman's clubs that the cub could barely carry in both arms. With a sigh he started cleaning. 

That day, Bengali was out alone on the ThunderClaw, when instinct told him to go check out what the Mutants were doing. They had had little trouble from the Lunattacks, it was the Mutants that were being so vile lately. And so the white tiger decided to fly by and see what happened. 

Meanwhile, Ocellon was halfway done with the weapons. He had cut himself a few times on the blades, but otherwise managed. He had a pile of clean weaponry on one side and was cleaning a crossbow when Vultureman came out to check on him. 

Not knowing the crossbow was loaded, as he didn't know what the weapon was, just as the buzzard came out it discharged and sent a bolt across the moat into the swamp. Ocellon blinked in surprise. 

"Caaaw!" Vultureman exclaimed, startling the cub. He walked up and smacked Ocellon visciously across the face. "What's the matter with you?" he demanded. "You're wasting ammo! Next time make sure they're unloaded, caaw!!" 

Ocellon yelped and started shaking, but he nodded, and the buzzard let go of him. Crying quietly, the child went back to cleaning. 

Bengali, who had been flying overhead and had seen the whole thing on the small screen in the ThunderClaw, dropped his jaw in shock. That cub looked like a Thunderian! And that cowardly Mutant had just struck him! With a growl, Bengali narrowed his eyes and flew off in the ThunderClaw. Luckily for him, there was no one was in the Control Room to notice the beeping indicator, which stopped as soon as Bengali was out of sensor range. 

Back at Cats' Lair, where everyone but Snarfer was assembled, Bengali landed the ThunderClaw in the hangar and found the others in the council room. 

Lynx-O frowned when he ran in, sensing something was wrong. "Bengali, what happened?" 

As the other looked a little concerned at him, Bengali caught his breath. "Lion-O! ThunderCats!" he said. "I've found another Thunderian!" 

"What?" 

"Really?" 

"No way!" 

Lion-O approached the young man. "Where, Bengali? I thought all the others were destroyed when the Mutants attacked us..". 

Bengali shook his head. "I don't know, Lion-O. I thought so too. But I saw him at Castle Plundaar! He's a cub, he can't be more than three or four. They've got him as a slave, Lion-O! The poor thing's in chains, and I saw that cowardly buzzard hit him for something." 

"WHAT?!" came the enraged response from Panthro, followed by others' expressions of disbelief and anger. 

"We've got to rescue him, Lion-O!" said Wilykit. 

"Yeah!" her brother agreed. "They're at Castle Plundaar?" 

Bengali nodded. "Yeah. he looks like he's in bad shape, Lion-O, I have no idea how long he's been there. I wonder how he even got here." 

Lion-O shook his head. He was frowning darkly. "Those Mutants have gone too far," he muttered. "Let's go. We can figure out where he came from another time." He thought for a moment then said, "Lynx-O, you take Pumyra and Bengali and get the ThunderStrike ready. Panthro, Cheetara, Thunderkittens, Snarf, meet me in the ThunderTank. Snarfer can look after the Tower of Omens, and Tygra can stay here. Got it?" The others nodded, and Lion-O raised his fist. "HOOO!" 

"HOOOO!" the other cried as they sprang into action. 

Back at Castle Plundaar, the buzzard had gone out to check on Ocellon again, found him working satisfactorily, and left once more. The small cub was almost finished. 

He was cleaning the last of the weapons as the sun started to go down, and the ThunderStrike appeared in the sky. The ThunderTank roared up in from of the Castle, roaring across the drawbridge before the surprised Mutants had a chance to draw it in. 

Ocellon, who was in the back, did not see what all the noise was, and looked up, but he was too afraid to go and see. He flinched violently when one of the mook Mutants ran out of the Castle and grabbed him by the mane and shoved him towards the rear door, the dragged him up to the Control Room. 

All four of the ranking Mutants were in there, Monkian and Vultureman at the controls, blasting at the vehicles. S-S-Slithe turned and snarled at the cub. He would take his anger out on him later. "Sit down, or you'll regret is, yeeees!?" he hollered at the youth, who immediately sat down on the floor of the Control Room, his thumb in his mouth. His bright green eyes regarded what was happening on the viewscreen. He had never seen the ThunderCats except for a fleeting glimpse of a fight here and there. This was weird, though...they had never attacked the Castle like this. He was too broken to hope that they might come and rescue him, but he liked any time he could see them. They his poeple, and they were free. Any look he could get of them was welcome, and this time it seemed he would be allowed to sit and watch. 

"Lynx-O!" Lion-O called over the radio. "What does the Braille board say? Can it pick up any Thunderian life forms?" 

"One moment, Lion-O," said Lynx-O calmly, as his fingers flew over the Braille board's raised dots, both flying the ThunderStrike and getting information from it. "Yes, in the Control Room, I have a Thunderian signature, a small ocelot child." 

Panthro growled, grabbed the radio, and replied, "S-S-Slithe is going to regret enslaving one of our countrymen! A cub no less!" 

Lynx-O nodded at the panther's words. "Yes, Panthro. We are all angered. But we can't go into this headfirst, we have to think it through a little or else it could get him or us hurt." 

Panthro sighed and calmed down. But only a little bit. "Yes, Lynx-O. You're right. But I hate those Mutants!" 

In Castle Plundaar's Control Room, S-S-Slithe growled as both the ThunderTank and the ThunderStrike returned fire on the Castle, easily avoiding the energy bolts form the laser turrets. "Vultureman! Jackalman! Monkian! Get the vehicles! Monkian and Jackalman take the Skycutters, Vultureman, you take the Flying Machine!" Almost as an afterthought, he grabbed Ocellon by the mane and threw him against the wall, attaching his leg irons to a computer console, then ran to the hangar, telling his guards to keep an eye on the kid. There were undertones of this attack that he didn't like. 

After a sharp outcry upon hitting the wall, Ocellon only curled up against the console to watch. As least he wasn't working. 

Outside, as the four Mutants sprang to attack, the small cub inside watching on the viewscreen, it was a full fledged fight. With the Mutants inside firing on the ThunderCats, the ones outside attacking, and the ThunderCats firing back, it was chaos. The Thunderkittens had taken their space boards and were flying up in the air, hurling capsules at the riders of the Skycutters, and hitting the wings with well timed dives with their boards. 

Lion-O found the Skycutter frequency and spoke angrily to S-S-Slithe. "Mutants! You have a small Thunderian cub as your captive! Release him, and we will cease our attack!" 

S-S-Slithe was a little surprised. It had not ever occurred to him that the reason for this attack might be the cub. Blast it, they must have seen him working outside. He laughed into the radio. "No way, ThunderCats! He's _our_ slave. You get your own, yeees!" 

Lion-O roared in anger and replied, "You coward! Hiding behind a cub! And we don't want him as a slave, you miserable Mutant! We don't take another's freedom!" 

S-S-Slithe did not answer the young lord, only ordered to the others: "Retreat! Back to Castle Plundaar!" He was on a different frequency, so the ThunderCats didn't hear this order. "We have that mangy little cub as leverage!" 

The other three confirmed and followed S-S-Slithe into the hangar, cutting it off from pursuit as soon as the last Mutant had entered. 

"What in the?" Panthro wondered. "Just like those cowards. Looks like we're going to have to go in after the kid." 

Lion-O nodded and said over the radio, "Lynx-O! Can you get in from the top anywhere? Maybe the roof?" 

Lynx-O shook his head, even though Lion-O couldn't see it in the their vehicle. "No, Lion-O. Seems like they got smart from the times we have gotten in through there and got rid of the exits." 

"Then we'll go in the front. Go ahead and land, Lynx-O." 

"Landing now." 

In the Control Room, S-S-Slithe grabbed the cub, unclipped the chain from the console, and hauled the child to his feet, in sight of the screen. "Lion-O!" he called over the intercom, before anyone could get out of their vehicles. "I'd stay out there if I were you, ThunderCat!" He shoved the little boy against the console in view of the screen. "I'd turn on the visual in that Tank of yours to see just what is going on up here!" 

Panthro started to stomp up the stairs, an angry snarl on his face, but Lion-O stopped him. "Hold on, Panthro," he said, and switched on the small screen in the ThunderTank. He narrowed his eyes when he saw the small cub being held by the scruff of his neck by that miserable Reptilian. On the small area of the viewscreen, he couldn't see what kind of condition he was in, but he could see he was in chains. "Let him go, S-S-Slithe!" 

There was only laughter. Then: "Back off, Lion-O. You wouldn't want anything...unpleasant to happen to the boy, now would you?" 

Ocellon was scared, but it was something he was used to. He was also fascinated, and looked at the other cats intently. He had never seen them up close like that. The one the reptile called Lion-O was in his view now. He was the one that he was most interested by. He was the leader, this much he knew. 

Lion-O sighed, then he shut off the screen. "Backing up now, S-S-Slithe," he said, and motioned to the others to retreat. But he stopped the Thunderkittens. As the others retreated over the drawbridge, he spoke quietly to them. They nodded and snuck close to the building with their spaceboards. Then Lion-O joined the others. 

"S-S-Slithe!" he said over the radio. "What would convince you to let the child go?" 

"Hmmm." S-S-Slithe didn't answer yet. Maybe this kid would be of some good to him here after all. He got a nasty grin on his face. "I think that I might settle for the Eye of Thundera, yeeees?" 

Lion-O shook his head. He might have known. "You know the Eye can not be used for evil purposes, S-S-Slithe..." 

"Yes, but it CAN be destroyed...or rendered useless. Maybe we can't use it, but then again you can't, either. So what's it gonna be, Thunderlosers?" He had no intention of giving them the boy once he had his hands on the Sword of Omens, but they didn't have to know that, did they? 

As Lion-O spoke back and forth with the Mutants, the Thunderkittens were flying up and around the Castle looking for an open, unbarred window to sneak in as Lion-O had instructed them. If they could sneak in, fly into the Control Room to grab the cub, then fly back out on their boards, they could get the poor kid out of there. 

Lion-O did not trust the Mutants as far as he could throw Castle Plundaar. Maybe even less. "What proof do we have that you would turn him over to us?" he countered. 

"Well you'll just have to trust us, now won't you, yeeeees?" He grinned, then looked at them closely. "Where are those mangy Thunderkittens?" he demanded. 

Oops. He noticed that soon? The Mutants must have gained some brains, Lion-O thought. "They're in the ThunderTank," he bluffed. 

S-S-Slithe narrowed his eyes and was about to respond when an alarm went off. The Thunderkittens had found a window and were climbing in. But Vultureman had installed an alarm system, and they had tripped it. 

"Ah jeez!" Wilykit exclaimed in surprise. 

"Alarms! When did they put those in?" Her brother was looking around in startlement. 

She shook her head. "I don't know! Do we fly in and try to find him anyway?" 

He nodded. "Just try to avoid the Mutants!" 

She nodded and they made their way down the hall, flying close to the ground on their boards, their lariats and capsules at the ready. 

S-S-Slithe growled as the sensors told him just who was in Castle Plundaar, and sent a group of guards after the kittens. Then he growled at Lion-O. "I warned you, whelp! Now this kid is going to pay for your mistake!" He threw the child to the floor and stepped on the chain between his wrists. He ignored the cub's whimpers as he had Jackalman get the whip from the dungeon and bring it up. 

"BLAST IT!" Panthro yelled in frustration, and banged on the side of the ThunderTank with his fists, denting it. 

Lynx-O put a calming hand on his shoulder. "Calm down, my friend. We'll get him out." But his worried expression belied his calm words. "S-S-Slithe, wait! I'll get them out, leave the boy alone!" 

There was no answer. S-S-Slithe was mad, and he would take his anger out on the cub whether the kittens retreated or not. 

As Ocellon whimpered softly for S-S-Slithe not to hurt him, the reptile took the whip and yelled at the cub to shut up. Lion-O could hear everything over the radio, including the boy's pleas. "Wilykit, Wilykat, break off the attack, NOW!!" he yelled into the communicator. 

"Retreating now..." came Wilykit's voice. She and her twin exchanged a puzzled look as a group of Mutants decided to attack them at that minute, barring their way. They simply turned around, hurling a smoke pellet at them, and flew back out the window, diving down to where the others were. "What's up, Lion-O?" Wilykat asked, but got a frantic wave of the hand telling him to be quiet. 

Lion-O said desperately into the radio, "S-S-Slithe, they've retreated, please, leave the child alone!" 

"Too late, ThunderCat!" came the response, then he heard the sound of a whip falling on flesh, and a young child's scream. 

Panthro roared in anger. "I'll kill him!!!" 

Lion-O brimmed with indecision. "We can't DO anything!" he cried in frustration. "They'll kill him!" He closed his eyes and shut the radio off. He couldn't bear to listen to that vile reptile beating the kid like that. 

Lynx-O had his head bowed in thought. "Perhaps we should retreat for now, and attack when the boy is alone." 

"But what if they do kill him, snarf, snarf!?" said Snarf. "We gotta stop S-S-Slithe from hurting him!" 

"They could do that whether we are here or not, Snarf," Lynx-O replied grimly. "We must put together a plan of attack. We'll have to catch him when he is not guarded." 

Lion-O finally nodded. "Yes, Lynx-O. I think that's the best way." He hated leaving the poor kid there, but knew that any move now could endanger his life. "Regroup at the Lair." 

With Lynx-O, Bengali, and Pumyra back in the ThunderStrike, Lion-O and the other adults in the Tank, and the kittens on their boards, the ThunderCats retreated to fight another day. 

Meanwhile, in the Control Room, S-S-Slithe was relieving his anger and frustration at the ThunderCats on the poor cub. He whipped the child relentlessly. The boy had lost consciousness around the fifteenth strike, but S-S-Slithe didn't bother to revive him, He did this only to have something to hit. The satisfaction of hearing the whip fall, and of seeing the blood welling from the lash served to satisfy his lust to hurt someone when he was enraged. 

When he was finished, he gestured to the kid. "Get him up from there, Jackalman, take him to the infirmary. When he wakes up, put him back to work under guard, yeees?" 

Jackalman cackled. "I bet those ThunderCats won't try THAT again!" he grinned as he took the cub down from where he hung. He wondered if he was all right; he had taken so much abuse, the jackal wondered if he would live very long. One time S-S-Slithe might discipline him and kill him, or he'd simply keel over while working. Not that the Mutants cared, slaves were expendable, and it was only a worthless Thunderian brat. 

The most severe of the slashes were stitched up, and Ocellon was put to work the next day, even though he was in a lot of pain, he was still forced to work. 


	4. 

A Cub's Trials 4

It was a week before the ThunderCats got their chance. The first couple of days, Lion-O had had Bengali fly over in the ThunderClaw as he had the first time, using the scanners to see if the cub was alone. The second time, he had been seen and shot at. After that, Lion-O had the kittens do the fly-by on their boards, as they were more able to avoid the scanners. He gave them each a portable sensor, which not not strong, but as close as the kittens got, it was adequate. 

Each day they had to report that Ocellon was kept under guard. S-S-Slithe had found out how valuable he was as a hostage; he knew that Lion-O had freaked at him beating the boy. The young lord had done a lot of worrying about him, and pacing, not able to get the sound of the cub's shriek out of his head. He had not thought there were any more of his people that survived, and now they found one, and they were unable to do anything for him. And he was only a child! 

On the ninth day they got a break. Ocellon was cleaning in the kitchen, and the Mutants had gotten lax, thinking the ThunderCats had given up; the twins had been very careful not to be seen. He was under no guard, only cleaning quietly on his hands and knees. He was still in pain from the beating he had received, but he only cried a little when he moved enough for it to hurt a lot, or for the more serious of the lashes to break open again. Otherwise, he only quietly endured. 

But Wilykit and Wilykat had "seen" via the sensors that the cub was alone, and grinned at each other. They flew back to the Lair as quickly as they could to get the others. 

As per the plan, they waited until nightfall, then everyone got into their vehicles, leaving the Snarfs behind this time. They would attack, and if the boy was still alone, they'd go right in, guns blazing. But if he was not, they would retreat. This time they were lucky; the Mutants were at a meeting, and the boy had been locked in his cell for the night, under no guard for the first time since the ThunderCats' first attempt. "Attack!" Lion-O commanded. 

The ThunderCats moved in fast, and Panthro had the door busted down with the ThunderTank before the Mutants knew what hit them. As soon as the alarm went off, S-S-Slithe jumped into action and set the whole castle on the invaders. 

Tygra and the Thunderkittens headed down to look for the cub while the others kept the Mutants busy upstairs. S-S-Slithe had ordered via the intercom for the child to be taken from his cell and slowly killed for Lion-O's attack. Tygra and the twins hoped to Jaga that they could get there in time. 

The two guards that were sent to kill the child were quick, but the ThunderCats were just as quick. Tygra and the twins got there just as they were dragging the startled ocelot cub out of his cell. Enraged, the three of them attacked! The two Mutants guards were unconscious by the time the ThunderCats were done. 

"Let's get out of here!" Wilykat cried, bringing his spaceboard around. 

But Ocellon only stared fearfully at the newcomers. He wasn't sure what to do, these people were good, he knew, but not his masters. What should he do? The reasoning of his young mind was so centered on the Mutants and the fear they had instilled in him that he thought if he got away S-S-Slithe would be mad and hurt him badly. This had been the first time that Tygra had seen the young cub, and he was shocked at his condition. 

Meanwhile, upstairs, Lion-O was fighting a group of jackals, led of course by Jackalman. He laughed. He liked a good fight, and the odds were in the young lion's favor. The first of the jackals lunged forward with his staff, and tried to knock the Sword of Omens from Lion-O's hand. "Not today, scavenger!" the young lord cried, and jumped back. He turned to elbow one that was making a cowardly sneak attack on him, and he dropped. 

All at once they jumped on him, hitting their comrades more often than him. Despite taking a good one to the jaw, and a few to his body, Lion-O was laughing. They were utterly imcompetant! He would do just as well to slip out of the dogpile as it were, and let them beat themselves up! But he didn't. Soon, all that was left was Jackalman., nd he was foolish enough to keep up the attack. 

He and Lion-O wrestled on the ground, Jackalman taking most of the hits. By the time he crawled away with his tail between his legs, he had a broken, bloody snout and a slew of bruises. 

In the dungeon, Tygra held a hand up to tell the Thunderkittens to wait, and got on his knees, not approaching the child. He didn't want to intimidate him. He saw for the first time just how much abuse the child had suffered, and he was very angry about it. "It's all right, cub," he said quietly, extending a non-threatening hand as the child cowered against the wall. "It's okay, we won't hurt you, I promise. We won't let the Mutants hurt you anymore, either, we just want to get you out of here, okay?" 

At that moment, five of the Mutant guards busted in: two hyenas, a jackal, a reptillian, and an avian, astonishingly big considering what he was. They all rushed the startled tiger and Thunderkittens. As Ocellon shrieked and crawled into the corner, covering his head with his hands, Tygra and the twins whirled to meet the attack of staffs, laser pistols, and a mace and chain. 

"Tygra, look out!" Wilykit cried. One of the hyenas was aiming a pistol at him from behind. The tiger ducked immediately on hearing the young ThunderCat's warning, avoiding both the attack from the avian in front and the hyena in the back. He rolled out of the way. "Thanks, Wilykit." 

She had no time to reply as she was tackled by the smaller of the hyenas. He had already lost his weapon. Wilykit yelped and started wrestling with him as Wilykat darted around the remaining two, hurling capsules at their feet. 

Upstairs, Cheetara was fighting both Monkian and Vultureman, though the buzzard was nothing. His idea of fighting was to hide around the corner and shoot at her every once in a while with some kind of energy pistol. She was sufficiently quick enough to avoid them, and was able more than once to maneuver herself so that Monkian was in the way and took the shot. Some spare simian and jackal guards jumped in here and there but were no match for the cheetah woman. They too ended up slinking away to lick their wounds. 

In the dungeon, Wilykit growled and hurled her elbow back, hearing a satisfying crack and a shriek as several of the hyena's teeth broke off. He ran from the room, his hands over his bloodied muzzle. Wilykit grinned, though the teeth had scraped a set of long furrows in her arm, and went to help her brother with his adversaries. But the Mutants were losing their nerve. Soon it was only the large vulture left, swinging his mace. Wilykat ducked it and lost his footing, and grimaced as the vulture swung down at him with his mace. 

Tygra yelled and drove into him, sending the large bird into the wall, where he collapsed, unconscious. 

"Wow, thanks, Tygra," Wilykat said in relief. 

Upstairs, Lynx-O was fighting four simain guards. His keen ears twitched as he listened carefully for the slightest move, and reacted accordingly. Two of them suddenly attacked at once, laughing at the idea of a blind old man thinking he could fight them. Lynx-O easily heard the clumsy attack and leapt straight up, letting the two simians collide with each other, knocking themselves out. 

The elderly ThunderCat smiled and turned to face the others. He snapped open his Light Shield, letting it quickly charge from the light in the hallway, and sent the energy in a narrow beam towards one of them. His ears had not failed him as to their position, and one fell. The other turned tail and ran. 

Down below in the dungeon, the twins kept a careful watch as Tygra tried to coax the child to come with them. "Wilykit, your arm!" Wilykat said. 

"It's okay. Just a scratch!" She grinned wildly. There was something exhilerating about a battle, about taking risks and surviving them. The adrenaline pumped, and the body was taken to a new height of awareness as it had to think fast, avoiding strikes, and dancing around death. She knew her body would be complaining later, but she could deal with it then. Her brother grinned back, and she knew he felt the same way. 

"Come on, little one," Tygra said for the fifth time, trying to keep the urgency out of his voice. "Come on out, we won't hurt you. It;s okay." 

Ocellon was cautious. For as long as he could remember, no one had even done anything for him, never done anything for his own good and no other reason; he just couldn't fathom it. But what Tygra had said about not letting the Mutants hurt him again registered. After a couple of minutes, as the twins looked up nervously at the sounds of the battle, the cub extended a manacled, shaking hand for the tiger to grasp. 

Tygra smiled kindly. "That's right," he said in the same soft voice. "I'm going to carry you out, okay?" 

Biting his lip, the boy nodded and allowed Tygra to pick him up, though pushed himself away from him a little bit, still half expecting the stranger to hurt him, even though he was a cat like him; one of the ThunderCats he had secretly cheered so many times before. 

"Okay!" Tygra said. "Let's go, kids!" With the terrified cub in his arms, Tygra ran out, meeting no resistance, as the others were keeping the rest of the Mutants plenty busy. 

Once outside in the ThunderTank, Tygra called Lion-O over the radio. "Got the cub, let's get out of here!" 

Where he was now fighting S-S-Slithe upstairs, Lion-O laughed. "Looks like you lose this day, Mutants!" he said, and fired a strong beam from the Sword of Omens at the Reptillian. He shouted a Plundaarian obscenity as he was driven through the wall. 

The Mutants that were still conscious angrily fired on the retreating vehicles, hitting both a few times, and nearly knocking Wilykit from her spaceboard, but they made a clean getaway. 


	5. 

A Cub's Trials 5

Amidst the triumphant whoops from those in the ThunderTank, the skittish, frightened cub cowered in a corner of the seat, away from the others, and sucked his dirt-grimed thumb. Tygra gave the boy a reassuring glance; he and the others had been horrified at the shape he was in. His ribs showed through on his gaunt frame, and he was so filthy, his fur was flea-ridden, and they could clearly see the abuse and pain he had gone through. And he was still in chains. 

Lion-O frowned. While Panthro piloted the Tank, Lion-O cried, "HO!" and aimed the Sword of Omens at the child's restraints. As the boy shrieked in startlement, the chains and collar disintegrated. Lion-O winced as Ocellon started to cry; he had not meant to scare him. "I'm sorry..." he said. He wasn't sure what else to do, and now he felt bad. 

Tygra was the best with children, he and Cheetara, and had taken a strong liking to the young cub. He couldn't be more than three, he thought, as small as he was, and so vulnerable. It stirred an instinctive fatherly feeling in his mind. He would see to it the boy was happy for as long as he was with the ThunderCats. "It's all right, Lion-O," he said. "He's just confused and frightened. He'll be all right." 

Lion-O nodded reluctantly and sat back down. 

When they got to the Lair, he motioned for the others to go in, and they did, understanding he wanted to be alone with the child for now. Lion-O gave the boy an apologetic look for having scared him as he went inside. 

Tygra turned back to the cub. "Come on out, little one. It's okay, there's no one here that will hurt you, I promise." 

Under Tygra's gentle persuasion, the cub shakily climbed out of the Tank and landed on his rear end outside of it. He got up and looked around, closing his eyes to the bright sunlight that he had not seen since Thundera, and suddenly began to cry once more. 

The sounds went straight to Tygra's heart, and he couldn't bear to hear the child like that. Moving slowly, and noting the child didn't shy away from him, he gently took the cub under the arms and lifted him up. Any sign of him not wanting to be held, he would set him down. But there was none. He had never been picked up like that before, lovingly, or gently, at least not since Thundera. He was used to being hauled to his feet by his mane or carried roughly by the scruff of his neck. 

And he was never held. 

As he held the cub in his arms, the small child curled up and buried his face in Tygra's shoulder, his mind accepting him at last as a friend, or at least as someone that would not hurt him jsut for fun. He started sobbing, partly with relief, partly from everything he had endured, and Tygra closed his eyes, gently stroking the boy's mane. He saw that he was not yet healed from the beating that S-S-Slithe had given him and surpressed an angry growl. He seemed to have gotten only a small amount of medical care for all the good it did him. 

And the poor kid was so gaunt! He weighed hardly anything, and as Tygra comforted the terrorized child, he could feel every bone under his ragged hide. Tygra narrowed his eyes as he slowly walked in with the boy. Those Mutants had better hope they never met with Tygra again, or they would be sorry. 

Once inside, Tygra went to the Control Room, where only Panthro was monitoring. The panther nodded and walked out, and Tygra sat down with the boy and just held him for a long time, speaking softly to him and smoothing back his matted, tangled mane while he sobbed into the tiger's uniform. His small hands clutched the clothing desperately, as if thinking if he let go, he'd fall back into the Mutants' grasp. 

"It's all right," he said for the fifth time. He'd say it hundred more times if he had to. "They won't hurt you anymore, I promise you that." He intended to make good on that promise, too. "You're going to live with us now, you won't ever be sent back there. Not ever." 

When the child had calmed down a little bit and only lay curled up in Tygra's arms, shaking like a leaf and sniffling, Tygra smiled. "Come on, little one, let's get you fixed up. We'll get something to make you feel better, okay?" 

The boy only nodded a little, almost more of a conditioned response than a genuine agreement to Tygra's question, and did not relinquish his death grip on the tiger's uniform. 

"Good boy," he said, and stood up. 

Tygra carried the as yet unnamed child upstairs, passing both the twins, who were chasing each other, and Cheetara, who was trying to get them to stop a minute so she could ask them something. All three gave the child a worried glance as they passed. Ocellon only hid his face in Tygra's shoulder. 

Holding the boy gently, he took him to the infirmary and set him carefully on the soft table, a far cry from the infirmary at Castle Plundaar. Ocellon cried out and tightened his grip, afraid to let the tiger go, not wanting to be separated from him. 

"It's okay, little one," he said gently. "You can let go, no one's going to take you or hurt you. I just want to fix you up a little bit here before I get you cleaned up, okay?" It took a little time, but he convinced the child release his hold, and had him grasp the bed's railings while he looked the boy over. 

Ocellon whimpered as Tygra ran his hand over his back, examining the damage. The worst of them were still open, and the stitches still in, and some of them were infected; the child was lucky not to have had that problem before now. His ribs felt as if they had been cracked, one even broken, more than once, but had healed on their own. The pain he must have felt from that! Eyes narrowing in fury at the Mutants' cruelty, he whispered an apology to the boy for making him hurt, even a little bit, and went to the medicine cabinet. 

He took out a clean syringe and a small vial of a strong painkiller. Dosing out as much as was safe for the small cub, he brought it back to the child, who eyed it warily. "Don't be afraid of this," Tygra said quietly. "It will only sting a little bit, and when it starts to work, you won't hurt anymore, okay, little one?" He looked into the child's eyes and smiled. He noted the dark circles under his eyes that made the frightened green eyes look as if they were sunken in dark pits. Didn't they ever let him sleep? It was apparent they didn't feed him, obviously he slept little as well. 

After a minute, the boy nodded. After what he had been through, a needle prick would be nothing. Tygra was right, he didn't even flinch when he expertly slid the needle into the boy's arm and injected the painkiller in. When it started to work, he would put a numbing salve on the boy's back before bathing him. He didn't want to hurt the kid, but wanted him clean before tending him. 

He held the little ocelot while he waited for the painkiller to work and realized he didn't even know his name. "What's your name, little one?" he asked. 

Ocellon didn't answer at first. Truthfully, he wasn't sure. He had been in stasis so long, and the Mutants hadn't called him by his name. He had learned to answer to "Wretch" or "Cat" or "Furball" He shook his head in answer to the question. 

Tygra frowned a little. "You don't know your name?" he asked quietly. The boy shook his head again. Tygra felt bad for the kid, he didn't even know his name, and he was sure he did not know his age, either. "I'll call you 'Sroya' for now," he said quietly. "That means 'brave one' in Thunderian. You like that?" 

The boy nodded. He did like the sound of the name, it was soothing. 

Tygra smiled. "Okay, Sroya it is. Do you still hurt?" 

After a minute of thinking, the boy shook his head. The painkillers were fast acting. 

Tygra nodded. "Okay then, I'm going to put something on your back that will help even more, then I'm going to wash you, okay, little guy?" After yet another nod, he wondered if the child would ever speak. The only time he had heard him was when that bastard S-S-Slithe was going to beat him. The ThunderCat took the salve and gently rubbed it into the boy's hide, making sure it soaked into the skin. His back was so scarred, and he was bruised and cut. He couldn't imagine the hell he had gone through. 

When he could touch his back without him feeling it, he picked the youth up. He smelled like a dungeon, the poor kid, that was probably where he slept. 

He got on the intercom and asked Cheetara to come in and help a little. When she arrived, he quietly asked her to draw a nice warm bath. The child was shivering, his only clothing being the tattered shorts that looked like they would fall off at any time. She nodded and went to draw the bath. 

When he heard the water stop, he carried Ocellon into the bathroom. The numbing salve had already done its work, and wouldn't wash off. "Ready to take a bath?" he asked Ocellon, but frowned in puzzlement at the cub's reaction. 

Ocellon turned around, and when he saw where he was, his eyes widened, and his grip on Tygra's uniform tightened. He gave a small scream of fright and whimpered. "No, please, please, I-I'll be g-good, I-I'll b-be g-g-good..." He whimpered the words over and over. 

Tygra was a little confused. "What's the matter, Sroya?" he said gently, as he knelt and tried to set the boy down on his feet. Ocellon wouldn't let go. "It's only water, it won't hurt you, little one." He again tried to move the boy towards the tub. "I'll be right here..." 

The only response was a repeat of his whimpered plea, and the boy clenching his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut as if he was expecting to be hit or something. "P-please, I-I'll be good, I-I'll ob-b-bey. I p-promise..." 

Suddenly, Tygra understood; he must think he was going to be punished. And he knew some of the Mutants' methods of torture and "discipline". He quickly stood with the cub in his arms and moved out of the bathroom, speaking soothingly to him. "It's all right, it's okay, I will never hurt you, little one. Never, I promise. We don't have to use the tub, okay?" 

As they moved farther from the bathroom, the child calmed down, though he was still crying a little bit. He laid his head on Tygra's shoulder and sucked his thumb while clinging to him tightly with the other hand. Tygra stroked his mane gently, looking troubled. "I have to get you cleaned up though, Sroya...I have an idea." 

He brought Ocellon to Lion-O's room, where there was a private bathroom with a shower. There was a shower in the other bathroom, but this one had no tub, only a flat tiled floor with doors that slid open and shut. "Look, Sroya," he said softly. "You know what a shower is?" 

The boy shook his head. He vaguely did, but not really. 

"There's no tub, the water won't fill up anything, it will be just like rain, but it will be nice and warm. I can keep the doors open. You think you can let me wash you up a little here?" 

Ocellon looked it over and saw nothing that looked too threatening. A little warily, he nodded his head. 

Tygra smiled. "Good boy. I'm going to set you down, okay?" He set the boy on his feet, where he leaned against the tiger and held onto him. Tygra turned on the water and told Ocellon what he was doing, and what turned what on, and how it worked. It seemed to help, as Ocellon relaxed the smallest bit. It had been the worst at the castle when he didn't know what would happen; knowing how it worked made him understand it, so he was not so afraid. "Okay, let's get those shorts off. We can find you something to wear later, okay?" Again, the child nodded, and Tygra wondered what his voice sounded like when he wasn't whimpering, or begging, or scared out of his mind. 

After the cub was naked, Tygra coaxed him into the warm spray. "Is that too hot?" he asked. Ocellon shook his head; the warm water felt good on him; he was always so cold. The dungeon was a cold place to sleep. "Good." As the tired child leaned against him in the shower, Tygra had to get in to do what he needed to. He got soaked, and still in his clothes, too, but he didn't mind. 

Getting on his knees so that he was on the cub's level, he took the liquid soap and at first only poured it on the kid's body, forgetting the washcloth for now. He was too filthy for that, he needed more soap than the cloth could get on him. Gently lathering the soap up, he washed the child down from the neck on. 

Ocellon sighed and sucked his soapy thumb. The gentle wash-down felt very good, and the warm water combined with the painkiller was making him sleepy. It was only the conditioned wariness that kept him awake. 

Tygra finally washed his back, careful not to aggravate the whip lashes, though most were healed enough not to bleed again. When he was done with his body, it was several shades lighter than his face, and he could actually see the ocelot markings. He could also see the scars. But still he was filthy. Again, Tygra began the bathing, this time using the rough cloth the furry beings used to clean the skin and fur. It took four more times scrubbing the boy, but he finally got the dirt and grime and blood and grease and soot off of him, and the water running towards the drain was clear, not black. 

He then took the cloth and cleansed the boy's face, more carefully around his eyes and ears, taking several times to get it clean. He smiled when he had succeeded, and looked at the boy's face. He was a very attractive child, he thought. He had a few markings on his face, and lighter fur around his eyes, which were a startling green. 

Last, Tygra stared on his mane. He had to cut a good deal off, but he finally got it clean and somewhat manageable, though still matted and tangled. He had expected brown hair, he got dark blond. "Feel better, Sroya?" he asked gently. 

The cub nodded. He had whimpered a few times, but for the most part said nothing, though it looked as if he were enjoying it. Now that he was receiving some attention and care, he looked a little less terrified. "Good." Tygra took him out and wrapped a towel around his body gently rubbing him down. Then he stripped off his own soaked uniform and dried himself off, wrapping the second towel around his waist and shutting off the water. 

He was so angry at the Mutants. When he looked into the boy's eyes, he saw a constant terror, and wariness, and hopelessness. He hoped he could change that. 

He picked up the bundled up child and carried him back to the infirmary. Now he could tend the injuries. Lying him naked on his front, he made sure the child could still not feel his back, though he knew the salve would last a few hours, he just wanted to make sure. Wincing once again at the numerous scars that criss-crossed the cub's small back, he used medical scissors and a pair of forceps to pull out the old stitches, quietly telling him what he was doing as he did so he wouldn't be startled. Then he re-stitched the worst of the lashes that had broken open, and thoroughly cleaned out the infected ones, then bandaged him up. 

Finally, as he saw the cub was at last falling asleep, he took out a brush and started brushing out the mats and tangles and knots in the cub's mane. It took a while, but he finally got it all brushed out. Aside from the emaciated condition of his body, the boy was very attractive now that he was clean and flea-less and untangled. Ocellon had fallen asleep. The brushing had been soothing enough to put his fatigued mind over the edge of consciousness. 

Tygra smiled and carried him to Wilykat and Wilykit's bedroom. There were two beds; they could share one for a while until they found a place for the new cub to sleep. He gently set the damp, naked cub down and covered him up. Kissing his brow, he went to move away. 

Ocellon, sensing his newfound guardian was leaving, awoke with a half whimper, half outcry and shot a hand out to clutch at him. 

"Whoa, okay, okay, I'll stay, little one." He sat down on the bed and pulled the child into his lap, where he curled up. Tygra bundled him in blankets and held him, gently rocking back and forth. 

Ocellon fell asleep once more, with a sigh as the last thing he said before zonking out. 


	6. 

A Cub's Trials 6

Tygra stayed with him as long as he slept, dozing off himself, and waking to see the boy was still asleep. A quick glance at the clock told him that it had been over twenty-four hours. Had he not known how exhausted the child was, he would be a little worried. But he knew he needed the rest. 

After almost thirty hours of sleep, during which Tygra held him the entire time, and accepted a couple of meals from Snarf, Ocellon awoke. The twins had been very nice about being quiet and sharing a bed, and Tygra was grateful to them for it. 

Ocellon woke with a startled outcry, as his body jumped. 

"Shhh, it's all right, little one. You're safe." Tygra smoothed out the kid's mane as he watched him look around the room a little dazedly. When Ocellon remembered where he was, he threw his arms around Tygra's neck and held on tight. Tygra smiled. "That's right. You're safe here. Are you hungry?" He received an eager nod. "It's just about time for supper. You think you can eat with us in the dining hall?" Another nod, more reluctant, but a nod nonetheless. The tiger smiled again. "Good cub." Do you hurt still?" The cub nodded once more. "Okay, we'll fix you up then go eat some supper, what do you say?" Once again the nod. Tygra got him into one of Wilykit's tunics, which hung down on the small child, but stayed on, then got into one of his own uniforms, stretching as he worked out the kinks. 

Again saddened by the boy's subdued attitude, Tygra brought him once more to the infirmary, reapplied the salve and the bandages, then took him back downstairs. He looked much better than when they had first pulled him out of Castle Plundaar, the only thing that needed to be fixed was the boy's weight, or lack thereof. 

Though Lion-O and the twins had seen the boy after Tygra tended him and bathed him, but the others had not yet seen. They were all gathered at the table when they entered, and most smiled at them. "He looks much better, Tygra," Cheetara said, and Wilykit giggled at seeing her tunic on the little boy. 

"Yes, Tygra, you did a good job with him," Lion-O agreed, and smiled at the cub. "Are you feeling all right?" 

Ocellon didn't answer for a minute, then nodded; he seemed more uncertain around the young lord than any of the others. Lion-O smiled. "Good. Snarf cooked up a huge meal with all sorts of good stuff. It'll do you good." He got a more eager nod. 

When Snarf brought out the food, he took one look at the boy and said, "You need some good food, snarf, snarf. Ol' Snarf'll get you all fixed up." 

Ocellon looked at this new creature in utter fascination, never having seen one before on Thundera. He wasn't sure what to make of him, but he was small and unintimidating. He didn't fuss when Tygra set him the seat next to him, which was a good sign, and the child's stomach growled loudly. He looked almsot asahamed that it had made the noise and looked around uncertainly. Tygra reassured him a moment before Snarf brought out his masterpieces. 

Snarf grinned and set all the food on the table and took the seat on the other side of Ocellon. Tygra dished out a large helping of food in front of the boy, who only looked at it for a moment, then gave Tygra an uncertain look. "Go ahead, Sroya," he said gently. "You don't have to ask permission to eat. Go ahead and eat all you want. If you want more, just ask for it, okay, little one?" 

Ocellon nodded and picked up some meat with his hands, and with a last look to Tygra began to hungrily eat. Poor little thing was starved half the time at Castle Plundaar, he was so eager to eat when he could. Tygra vowed the kid would never go through something like that again. 

Snarf frowned as the child quickly ate. "Slow down a little, snarf, snarf. You'll make yourself sick." 

Looking at the little Snarf, the boy did slow down a bit. Tygra laughe; Snarf was a natural with cubs. Confident he wouldn't let the boy make himself sick, Tygra turned to his own meal. 

Lion-O looked at his second in command. "Is that his name, Tygra?" he asked. "Sroya?" 

Tygra shook his head. "No. It's what I have been calling him, he doesn't know his name, or his age, or anything about himself. He seems to like the name Sroya, though." 

Lion-O frowned. "I wonder where he came from, and how long he was with the Mutants to be in that kind of condition." At the mention of the Mutants, Ocellon whimpered and leaned up against Tygra, a piece of meat still in his hands. Lion-O winced. Seemed he was good at scaring the poor kid. "I'm sorry, cub," he said, and sighed. Maybe they could search the area around Castle Plundaar for wreckage of a ship or something. 

Tygra gently took the meat from the boy's hands. He would have to teach him to eat with a fork and spoon. "It's all right," he repeated until the cub let go of him. "They won't hurt you ever again." When the boy had calmed down, he picked the food up again and ate, though a little more subdued. 

Pnthro, in particular, was fascinated watching the cub, he put away three plates of food! How could someone that small eat that much? And he showed no signs of being sick. "Feel better, kiddo?" the panther asked him. He was smiling amusedly. The kid was kinda like him when it came to food, though he was making a mess of himself. 

Ocellon nodded as he finished the third plate. He seemed to be deciding if he wanted more or not, but Snarf settled the matter. "Better save some room," he told the cub with a grin. "You'll need it for dessert!" 

Ocellon only gave him a blank, somewhat wary look. 

Snarf blinked, then asked, "Don't you know what dessert is, snarf, snarf?" 

Ocellon shook his head and looked up at Tygra, who only smoothed his mane down. He could see that clean or not, it wouldn't be easily tamed. 

"You poor kid. I'll show you. Dessert is like food, but better. It tastes sweet, and you have it after supper. I made a blueberry cake for tonight!" He grinned and ran into the kitchen. He loved showing off his work. 

When he came back out, he was pushing a cart with a large, white cake on top. Ocellon looked at it interestedly. 

"This is my patented Snarfcake," he said. "It's got angel food cake inside, and whipped cream frosting, oooo, and blueberries in it, and on the frosting! You like blueberries, Sroya?" 

The child thought for a moment, but he had never had blueberries. He shrugged, and smelled the heavenly aroma coming from the cake. It sure smelled good. 

Lion-O laughed. "Well don't just stand there, let's have some of this wonderful cake instead of talking about it." He winked at Snarf. "I think our guest of honor should have the first piece." 

"You got it!" Snarf wheeled the cart over to Ocellon and served up a good sized slice on a plate, then watched the cub to see his reaction. 

After a nod from Tygra, the cub tentatively picked the slice up, and the fresh cake broke in two, getting frosting all over his hands and falling back onto the plate. 

The Thunderkittens giggled, and the adults chuckled at the cub's expression. Then he tried again. After a few times, he managed to pick a piece up and bite into it, getting frosting all over his face. Tygra sighed, but smiled. He'd have to give the kid another bath later after this. 

Everyone watched the boy's reaction to the cake. His eyes lit up and he smiled a little bit. It did Tygra's heart good to see it on his face, as he had not smiled once until now. "Snarf makes a good cake," he said, with a grateful look towards the cook. If anyone could cheer a person up, it was Snarf. 

As Ocellon eagerly ate his cake, Snarf doled out the rest. "Snarf," Lion-O said, cutting some off with his fork, "I know I don't always say it, but your cooking rivals my own mother's." He remembered little of his mother, only her smile and her cooking. 

Snarf looked pleased. "Thanks, Lion-O!" 

After dinner, Tygra got the cub cleaned up with a washcloth, something he readily stood for, then asked the boy if he wanted to play with the Thunderkittens. 

Ocellon shook his head, he did not want to be away from the tiger any more than he had to. Tygra smiled gently and said, "All right then, do you want to listen to some stories, or color, or maybe look at the Control Room?" 

The cub opted for the stories. He did not want to do anything too physical yet, he needed to recover. 

"You got it." Tygra spent the rest of the night reading to the cub and showing him pictures. He was careful to stay away from storybooks that had Mutants in them, or anything too violent. When he got tired of reading, he convinced the cub to try some coloring. He got out some paper and crayons and set them down on a hard surface on the carpet. He sat down next to the boy while he happily scribbled. 

The next few days went similarly. Tygra nursed the child back to heath, and he responded by becoming less frightened, and more open. He still had not spoken, but he was showing progress. He slept with Tygra for the time being, though when he was ready, he would share a room with the twins. They loved the kid. They had never had a younger sibling, and they thought he was so cute. Maybe he could be a ThunderCat someday. 

One day, almost a week after they had pulled him out of Castle Plundaar, Tygra was surprised to find him not in bed when he woke up. He was worried at first, but he had to grin broadly when he peeked in the twins' room and saw them trying to teach him how to play a board game. He seemed more content to move the little pieces around the board than to play, but the twins loved it and would encourage him to do so jsut so they could wacth. Tygra was just glad the child was on his own instead of clinging to him so much. Later he did, but for that time, he had been by himself. 

This increased as the days went on, but he still hadn't spoken. It was two weeks later when he did, and Tygra was shocked. Out of nowhere, at the breakfast table it happened. Ocellon had gained weight steadily under Snarf's generous, careful diet, and he looked healthy. His injuries had healed, and only itched sometimes. 

Sitting next to the tiger, out of the blue, he leaned over and hugged him tightly and said in a whisper, "I love you, Tygra." 

As a couple of the ThunderCats smiled, and there were a few "awww"s, Tygra only stared at the cub for a minute. When he got over it, he hugged the child back, holding him tightly. "I love you too, little one," he said, feeling the sting of tears. He had not expected the boy's first words to be those; he was surprised the poor kid even knew what love was, given the circumstances. He saw Lion-O grinning at him and returned it, and he was a happy tiger that day. 

As the weeks passed, he began speaking more, and even went outside to play when the Thunderkittens did, but he never strayed away from the Lair, and he often went back inside to look for Tygra, as if to confirm he was still there. The Thunderkittens actually had to teach and show him what playing was. He did not remember doing it and didn;t know why it was done. The concept of doing somehting besides working or eating or sleeping was strange to him, but once he experienced it, he understood. 

Almost four months later, Lion-O decided that he wanted to try and find out who he was. There had to be a suspension capsule, didn't there? He would have asked the boy if he wanted to come, but they would be in the vicinity of Castle Plundaar, and he didn't want to scare him. 

Tygra wanted to go on this mission, however, and he thought that it would be a good time to be away from the cub a little. As of now, the boy had never been far enough away from Tygra that he could not run to see if he was there, or for some comfort. Hopefully he was ready. 

"Sroya?" he said softly, waking the child late in the morning. "Lion-O and Panthro and Cheetara and I are going on a little trip." Ocellon had not even been away from the Lair, things had been quiet, and the ThunderCats had not had to fight. This time they all were going because the Mutants could cause trouble for them so close to Castle Plundaar. "I have to go with them for a few hours." He noted the boy's alarmed expression and smiled. "No, Sroya, you'll be all right. We're going to go and find the capsule you came in and find out about you. When I get back, you can help us look through it, okay?" 

Ocellon bit his lip and thought for a minute. "Well..." he said uncertainly. "O-o-okay...will I be alone?" 

Tygra chuckled. "No. The twins will be here, and Snarf. He grinned at the child's smile, he had taken a liking to the good-natured Snarf. "Okay. I will see you this afternoon, maybe evening. Have fun, little brave one." He gave the boy a squeeze and left the room. He was not sleeping with the twins yet, he wasn't quite ready to be away from his guardian in the dark. 

As the three cubs played outside, the other ThunderCats left in the ThunderTank. 

"Where is this capsule, Panthro?" Cheetara asked. 

The panther shrugged. "Beats me," he replied. "I'm assuming it's somewhere around Castle Plundaar for them to have gotten a hold of him without us or someone else noticing." He growled and smacked the console. "Those miserable cowards!" His anger was still great. 

Lion-O sighed. "I know. I knew they were vile, but I didn't think that even they would be so cruel to a cub." After a bit of driving, the land slowly changed. It became swampy, the low-lying clouds and noxious gasses from the stagnant waters dimming out the sun. 

"Panthro, what's that?" Lion-O asked after a while, pointing to a blip on the scanner. 

He frowned. "I don't know. Let's find out." After a moment, he said, "This place is _nasty_." 

As it turned out, the ThunderCats had gotten lucky. It was, indeed, the child's suspension capsule. "Lucky break," Cheetara said. 

"It was indeed," Tygra agreed, hopping out into the muck. "Ugh, this place is disgusting. A fitting realm for Mutant slime. The others got out and approached the mud-caked, slime encrusted capsule. It was closed, either the cub had closed it after getting out, or more likely the wind or an animal had. From the looks of the inside, it had been open a very short amount of time, as it was clean. 

"This thing is half buried in the swamp," Lion-O said. "It must have been here a long time." 

"Yeah," Panthro growled. "Now we can find out how long the kid was here. Okay, let's get this thing in the 'Tank." He curled his lip. "In the back, that thing is nasty." 

Tygra chuckled at the panther's indignant tone. "You got it, Panthro." Together, he and Panthro brought the capsule to the back and jumped in. 

Back at Castle Plundaar, S-S-Slithe saw this little excursion...but he did nothing. At least not yet, he and his Mutants were still recovering from the thrashing they'd gotten when they rescued the cub. He had no desire to fight the ThunderCats again so soon after the sound defeat. He resented every one of them, including the miserable little slave. He would see that one dead if he had to spend a hundred years doing it. But until then...he would wait and plan. 

Meanwhile, the ThunderCats had gotten the capsule back to Cats' Lair. 


	7. 

A Cub's Trials 7

Ocellon, who was trying to ride Wilykat's spaceboard, and failing miserably, saw the Tank approach. "Tygra!" He grinned and scrambled to his feet, jumping on the vehicle before it was even stopped, and into Tygra's lap. 

The tiger laughed and hugged the boy. "Hey, little guy, you okay?" He had seen the kid take a few nasty falls. 

Ocellon nodded. "Just waiting for you. Did you get it?" The cub looked at him with eyes that showed only a small degree of the wariness and caution Tygra had been so saddened by before. 

Tygra smiled again as the other ThunderCats leapt out of the vehicle. He picked the child up as he got out. He couldn't describe how good it was to hear the boy's voice, to see his curiosity. In his months with the ThunderCats, he had grown stronger, and come from his shell. He was showing more and more of his natural personality: a hyperactive, rambunctious child. "Yes," he replied. "We got the capsule. We're going to get it out of the ThunderTank and into the Lair to clean it up, then we can look through it. We're going to get Lynx-O and Bengali and Pumyra over here. Snarfer too." 

Ocellon grinned. "Okay!" he liked the other ThunderCats, especially the elder one, Lynx-O. He thought the old lynx was intriguing, and he loved to sit and listen to his stories and his voice. 

Tygra let Ocellon help bring the capsule in, and they cleaned it off in the shower, as the cub still could not get near the bathtub. Then they brought it to the control room. 

Lion-O smiled at the youth and the ThunderCats ringed around the table where the capsule lay. A monitoring channel was set up at the Tower of Omens to keep an eye on it. "Would you like to open it, Sroya?" Lion-O asked him. 

Ocellon's curious, somber face broke into a grin. "Okay!" He climbed onto the table and peered inside, the inspected the edges of the pod. Every few minutes, he glanced at Tygra, as if to make sure he wasn't doing something wrong. 

Tygra smiled. "Go ahead, little one, go for it." 

Reassured, Ocellon went back to his examination. He had already figured out that the latch didn't work, and the pod was crusted shut. They had not been able to clean it out. "Rats." He frowned and sat on the table, contemplating his silent, uncooperative adversary. He was giggling here and there though; he had been given a problem to solve, and he intended to do it. 

After a few minutes, he frowned a little, stood, and gave the pod a swift kick. His tough foot hit with a loud crack, making him lose his balance and tumble on the floor, and causing the capsule to skid halfway off the table. 

There were some surprised exclamations, and Tygra got up right away and went over to the surprised cub. "Are you okay, Sroya?" he asked concerned, as he helped the cub to his feet. he had landed hard on the tile. 

He had not even cried out, only nodded his head at his guardian, who gave him a gentle hug. "Good." Any other cub his size would have probably been hurt. But considering what he went through with the Mutants, he supposed that was nothing. 

Ocellon frowned at the pod and climbed back up. The other ThunderCats only watched the cub, many grinning at his determination. His tendency not to give up when he wanted something achieved would be a good trait if he ever wanted to train to become a ThunderCat. 

The cub made a face, then scampered off out of the room. 

"What in the..." Pumyra said, a little bemused at the sudden departure. 

"Is something wrong?" Lynx-O asked. 

"I don't know, Lynx-O," answered Lion-O. But before anything else could be said, the child returned, running on all fours with a crowbar between his teeth. With a scowl on his face directed towards the stubborn pod, he stuck the end of the bar into the crack, had the twins hold it from flipping up, and dropped all of his weight on the end of the lever. 

With a pop, it flew open and Ocellon fell suddenly off the table once more. This time, anticipating that effect, Panthro was there to catch him. Looking pleased with himself, Ocellon grinned at his guardian and peered in the capsule. "Good job, little one," the tiger told him. 

The others crowded curiously in as well, wondering if there was anything in there that would tell who this cub was, and where he was from. "What's that, Lion-O?" Wilykat asked, pointing to a small speaker device. He tapped on the rusty metal mesh, and it squawked for a minute, then settled into a soothing, soft voice. "Thundera, home planet of Thunderians. King Claudus is the ruler of Thundera, as well as Lord of the ThunderCats..." 

Ocellon's face was serious as he listened to the voice. "I heard that when I was asleep..." he said, and inched back on the table towards Tygra, who put his arms around the boy and chuckled. "You're okay, Sroya." 

Lion-O frowned. "Do you know what it's for, Panthro?" 

Panthro fiddled with the device and looked it over. "I think so. Sroya must have been very young when he was put into stasis, his pod could have been a little defective. Given the bombardment it must have taken to land here, it's no wonder. This is a teaching device. As there is always a risk of an infant or toddler aging in stasis, like you did, Lion-O, some of the stasis pods were made with these little things in them, verbally teaches vocabulary and words, sometimes numbers and the like." 

"Neat!" Wilykat exclaimed. 

"But I thought all the other ships were destroyed thanks to the Mutants," Wilykit added, then winced at the ocelot cub's reaction. Though not as bad as it was at first, he did bite his lip and lean into his guardian. "I'm sorry, Sroya," she said. "They can't hurt you anyway," she said dismissively. "Me and Wilykat would kick their tails!" They peered in once more. "There's not a lot in here," Wilykit said. 

Bengali pulled out a small removable compartment. When he opened it he found a few personal items that his parents must have put in with the child, including some baby clothes, not too many, as most Thunderians went nude. There was a boomerang with a Thunderian name on it: Ocet. There were a couple of sets of clothing, in different sizes, including a two tone gray jumpsuit that looked like it would fit him now. Ocellon, though staying close to Tygra, did grin when Bengali handed it to him. He clutched it and looked interestedly at the boots and wrist guard and belt. Maybe one of the ThunderCats could show him how to wear them. 

The last thing in the small compartment was a small, electronic record-shaped metal disk. "A picture disk?" Lynx-O said, running his fingers over the tiny disk. "I did not know they were still used. Now, most people don't bother with those, and use full video disks." 

"Well this is a lot older, Lynx-O," Pumyra said. 

The old lynx smiled. "You're right, Pumyra. I was only commenting." 

"Let's play it!" Wilykit exclaimed. 

Cheetara chuckled. "I must admit, I am curious myself. Let's see what's on it." 

Lynx-O nodded and inserted the disk into a small slot in the console. After a moment, as the elderly lynx's fingers flew over the Braille board to "see" what the others were, a picture appeared on the screen. It was the coat of arms of Thundera. "Lion-O!" Bengali said. "Look at that!" 

Lion-O smiled. "My father had that coat of arms in the main chamber of Cats' Lair back on Thundera. I had forgotten what it looked like." Maybe they could reconstruct it. 

As they all watched curiously, and Ocellon's solemn eyes watched from the protective circle of his guardian's arms, the picture shifted to a letter, a script in Thunderian. Lynx-O, already reading from the Braille board, smiled a little sadly. "What does it say, Lion-O?" Wilykat asked. "My Thunderian's a little rusty." 

"I know what it says," Lynx-O smiled to them. 

Lion-O chuckled. "Go ahead, Lynx-O. I'm afraid my Thunderian is rusty as well." 

Lynx-O nodded. "The letter reads as such: 

"'Gorlindin, 13th day...' that is around summer time for any that do not remember. 'They are evacuating people today. The ship we were assigned to was toppled by a strong tremor before anyone even got on it. There was an extra pod in the next ship...only one. Even though we will not be able to be with him, at least our son will have a chance. Enclosed are all the personal possessions we had time to grab, including his father's weapon, passed down through generations, his birth certificate, and information. This is the best we could do on short notice, and we hope that whoever finds him will give him a good home. His age on the 13th day of Gorlindin: two years and three months. 

Ocet, Ocelana: Pardinuman'"

"Awwww," Wilykit said. "That's sad." 

"Yeah," Wilykat agreed. "Too bad his parents couldn't make it. I bet they were nice." 

Lion-O nodded. "At least we know your clan, Sroya: Pardinuman." 

Ocellon didn't answer. He was weeping just a little bit and leaning against Tygra with his thumb in his mouth. Tygra stroked his mane. "It's all right, little one. You have a home with us. Always." He clenched his jaw angrily as he thought of who had first found him. They gave him a good home, all right, he thought sarcastically. 

"We can stop, little guy," Panthro said. 

"Yes," Pumyra added. "We don't want to upset you." 

Ocellon shook his head. "It's okay." He wanted to see all he could of the last thing his parents had given him. He did not remember them at all. 

Lion-O smiled. The boy had fire in him. He just needed to find it. "All right, Lynx-O, what's next?" 

"It appears to be a birth certificate, Lion-O." 

Indeed it was. It read in both Basic and Thunderian: 

"Tayindin (Ocellon) Pardinuman 

Mother: Shakira (Ocelana) Pardinuman 

Father: Milek (Ocet) Pardinuman 

Place of Birth: Claudon, Thundera, Manxira Birthing Hospital 

Time: 13:73:13AM 

Attending physician: Calicar 

Race: Ocelot 

Mane: drk. Blond 

Eyes: Green 

Markings: normal 

Length: 21.25 rqs 

Weight: .2 mx."

At the end was a tiny footprint. Wilykit giggled. "You were really little." 

Lion-O smiled at the youth. "So now we know your real name, Ocellon," he said. "Thunderian and Basic names, in fact." 

Ocellon only nodded. 

"Is there anything else on there, Lynx-O? Wilykit asked. 

Lynx-O nodded. "Yes. From what the Braille board tells me, they are photographs. But there is no way I can tell who they are, as a photograph gives off no signature as a person does." He pressed a button for the next of the items. 

What followed was over thirty electronic photographs of an ocelot family, including a toddler that must have been Ocellon. His father was a young man with a light blond mane, his mother an attractive, slight statured young ocelot woman with light brown hair. One showed them on a picnic, one showed the child chasing after a butterfly, the next showing him sitting in a mud puddle, looking baffled as to why he had fallen into it. There were many chuckles and many smiles as they flipped through the photographs. 

"This must have been their photo album," Pumyra said. "Their records. They must have managed to voice program the letter at the beginning before they put the child in suspension." 

Lion-O nodded as they got to the last picture and flipped to the last item. It simply read, "We love you, Tayindin." A few of the ThunderCats were teary-eyed, and looked back at the child. He was crying still, though quietly. 

Lion-O smiled softly. "Why don't you go and talk with him, Tygra," he suggested." 

Tygra nodded. "Good idea, Lion-O. Put these things in a safe place, won't you?" 

"Of course." 

Tygra took the child into the library, where they often spent time reading, and was usually where Tygra told his stories to him, when he was not in bed. He had a long talk with the cub, whose memory had been jogged by the photographs. He remembered his parents, and was confused. And he missed his mama and dad. 

Tygra explained to him that his parents were still with him, comforted him, and assured him that he would never leave him, even if he himself were killed. He told him about Jaga and Lion-O, and tried to make the boy understand. He thought he did a pretty good job. 

He did, indeed, as Ocellon did get a vague idea what Tygra meant. But still it did not make things very easy. He still wanted them back, right where he could see them. 

"But hey, little one, we know your name, and looking at the electronic stasis pod records, we can see about how old you are, too. What do you think, Ocellon? You remember your name now?" He smiled at the cub. 

Ocellon thought for a minute and wiped his eyes. "Yeah..." 

"How do you like it?" 

He thought once more. "I like Sroya better." He did sound a little uncertain. He wanted to be called his right name, but he liked Tygra's. It made him feel better. 

Tygra chuckled. "Tell you what, little one. Sroya can be my special name for you. You can have the others call you Ocellon, and Sroya can be my name for you. What do you think?" 

Ocellon smiled and nodded his head, throwing his arms around the tiger's neck. 

Tygra smiled and hugged him back. "Then it's settled. Let's go see what Snarf's cooked for dinner, what do you say?" 

Ocellon nodded and walked out with his guardian, holding his hand. 


	8. 

A Cub's Trials 8

Months passed. Ocellon had been with the ThunderCats for almost eight months, and he was happy there. More and more steadily he had moved away from his ordeal, and was becoming a happy, hyperactive child. He spent most of his time with the Thunderkittens, trying to learn their spaceboards, and helping the other ThunderCats with their tasks. He was able to stay from Tygra longer, though still liked being with him when it was dark, not yet ready to face it alone. 

Maybe soon. 

He was often left at the Lair with only Snarf or the Thunderkittens when they went to take care of Mumm-Ra, or the Mutants, and Lunattacks. Once he was even allowed to go along in the tank if he stayed in with the clear shield over it. He wanted to see what the Lunattacks were. He had heard of them from the Mutants, but never knew what they were. What he saw made him laugh. They were the strangest beings he had even seen! Mean, though, he wouldn't want to meet up with them. 

It was only when he had been there a little over eight months when somewhat of a crisis occurred. The Mutants, Mumm-Ra, and the Lunattacks had decided that they would join forces...as if they had not tried and failed before...and lure the ThunderCats out in the open. All the ThunderCats were needed, and so they asked Ocellon if he thought he could stay at the Lair alone. He had learned how everything worked in the control room, and would have to defend it if it were attacked, until the ThunderCats could get there. Given the villains' past methods, this was a possibility, but the destruction they were causing to the inhabitants of Third Earth, the Wollows and the Bolkins, warranted all of them to go and stop them. 

The cub was very uncertain, but he knew he had to decide fast. He wanted Tygra to be proud of him, so he said yes. They showed him one last time how the weapons and shields and the locks worked, then rushed to confront the villains and aid the wounded of the villages. 

Ocellon bit his lip as he watched them leave. He had gone through attacks on the Lair before. If it was anyone but Mutants, including Mumm-Ra, he usually hid under the console in the Control Room, where he could see what was going on, and still be safe, but if it was Mutants, he hid under Tygra's bed. This time he could do neither. He would have to remember everything he had been taught, and defend the Lair all by himself. 

"Tower of Omens calling Cats' Lair!" came the high pitched, perpetually cheery voice. It badly startled the young cub, and he nearly toppled over off of his chair. 

With a nervous giggle, he climbed back up onto it, and with a slightly shaking hand grabbed the radio. Trying to think how he was taught to respond, he said, "Uh, C-Cats' Lair, go ahead." He grinned wildly. He sounded like the ThunderCats! 

Snarfer chuckled over the radio. "I just wanted to check in, Everyone here's left, and I got bored." He grinned. "Turn on the screen, Ocellon." 

"Oh, yeah." The cub flicked the switch, grinning at Snarfer's small form grinning back. "Hi!" 

"Well you're doing good, Ocellon, you'll be fine." 

Ocellon nodded. He and Snarfer talked a little while, mostly to calm the child's nerves. And it worked. 

Meanwhile, the ThunderCats had had to spread out to prevent three different attacks happening all at once. Mumm-Ra was a formidable enemy himself, but with the Lunattacks and Mutants all attacking in different places, the ThunderCats were hard pressed. They were losing! Until... 

All of a sudden, there were three less Lunattacks to deal with, making the attack manageable, although Mumm-Ra must have rested in his sarcophagus for a long time, as his attacks were more powerful that Lion-O ever remembered. 

Alluro, Chilla, and Tug Mug had broken off from the group, and were indeed headed for the Lair, as the ThunderCats had anticipated. They were too busy to notice yet, which was probably a good thing, as they would have been unable to do anything if they had. 

Ocellon was giggling at Snarfer's bad jokes when he was startled by an alarm. He screamed in startlement and a chill went through his body as he realized this might be it. "Snarfer! There's an alarm!" 

"All right, snarfer, snarfer, calm down. Get off of the radio, it'll only distract you. Remember what Tygra told you, and good luck! I'll notify Lion-O!" Snarfer gave him a goofy grin. 

Swallowing hard, Ocellon nodded and managed a small smile as he turned off the screen. He got rid of his panic, a small amount remaining in the back of his mind. 

He feared turning on the screen again, as he was afraid he'd see S-S-Slithe's sneering face. But he did turn it on, and saw three Lunattacks heading his way! He remembered them from the time he had been allowed to go along, and he had been told who they were. The cub had an uncanny ability to remember faces and names. It was Chilla, Tug Mug, and Alluro he faced. And they weren't very nice, either. Chilla could freeze people, and Tug Mug could make them float or stick to the ground, and Alluro could control minds... he waited for them to get a little closer. Chilla was riding a weird vehicle, and Alluro was on one of the wings, and Tug Mug was...hopping?? And high, too! Weirdoes! Ocellon bit his lip. 

Outside, Alluro laughed. "I can't believe that the ThunderCats left Cats' Lair unguarded!" 

Chilla grinned at him. "They are foolish, Alluro," she said. "No match for the Lunattacks. We will destroy the infernal Cats' Lair, then they will have nothing to go back to. Then we will desssstroy them!" She and Alluro broke into a chorus of rather demonic giggles as they neared the fortress. 

Ocellon gulped. He had fired the weapons in practice, and he was not all that good, though hit his target occasionally. This time it was for real. 

Waiting until the strange vehicle was in the right spot, he stood in front of the main laser cannons, barely able to look over them, and fired. 

"Whaaat!?" Chilla exclaimed, as a laser blast from Cats' Lair nearly shot her out of the sky. "I thought you said all of the ThunderCats were there except that miserable Snarfer, and he stayed at the Tower of Omens!" 

Alluro shrugged helplessly. "They did, Chilla! They are all fighting, you saw for yourself! They must have installed an automatic defense!" 

Chilla shook her head. "No. The sensors on the Icerunner would have picked up signals from any auto-mechanisms. There is someone in there." She hissed as a second blast came her way. "And whoever it is he's a lousy shot!" She laughed, rose to the Lair's head level, and fired back. 

Ocellon was knocked to the ground at the blast from the Lunattacks' vehicle. A worried look on his face, he picked himself back up and kept firing. He had the shields on, but the impact still rocked the fortress. The Icerunner had powerful weapons for its small size. 

Then there was that round freak...Ocellon changed his shooting to fire at him...but wait, the drawbridge! Amidst the Icerunner's attack, he pounced on the drawbridge control. The bridge started to retract, and Ocellon could see it would do so in time to prevent the round one, Tug Mug, from getting across...or so he thought. 

With a mighty leap, Tug Mug bypassed the drawbridge altogether and landed at the front door. Ocellon grimaced and sealed the lair, and continued his fire barrage. He was getting scared. 

Lion-O, at the outskirts of the Wollow Village, growled fiercely as he clashed swords, so to speak with Mumm-Ra. He heard Snarfer's screechy voice over his communicator: "Lion-O!! Ocellon's being attacked at the lair by those mean old Lunattacks! You got to help him!" 

"Blast you!" the young lord said to Mumm-Ra, not even able to pause in his fight long enough to answer over his communicator. He brought the Sword of Omens up to block the energy from Mumm-Ra's fingertips as he sank to his knees. 

At Cats ' Lair, Ocellon's' frantic attempts to keep the Lunattacks out of the Lair were failing miserably. Tug Mug's powerful pistons had bashed in the door, and he bounced in. "ThunderCats, I'm hoooome!" he cracked, and cackled wildly at his own joke as he sped along the corridors. 

"Oh, no!" Ocellon cried, as he saw what had happened. The other two landed and ran in after the round one. Ocellon could do nothing more, as there were no inside defenses, and he could not fight them himself. Making sure three times that the door to the Control Room was closed all the way and sealed, he got ready to fight like heck.. Looking around desperately he spotted one of Panthro's spare sets of nunchucks, and grabbed them. He had a vague idea how they worked...and it was all he had at the moment. 

Luna was operating the Lunattacker by herself, fighting Pumyra, Panthro, Snarf, and Lynx-O. As Amok drove the assault vehicle, Luna manned the guns. She was blasting everything that moved, while Redeye kept them busy with his direct attacks. 

Cheetara, Tygra, and the Thunderkittens were fighting the Mutants and having better luck with them. As Lion-O battled Mumm-Ra, they were slowly but surely wining their fight, even if the others were gaining no ground with Luna and Redeye. 

Tygra heard Snarfer's distress call as well, and he was immediately worried about his small ward, but there were many lives at stake if the Mutants won. They had to drive them off! 

Ocellon was indeed in trouble. Tug Mug, Alluro, and Chilla had separated, looking for anyone left in the Lair, as they were all curious as to who it was. They had not noticed the child the one time he went on a mission. They thought maybe the Warrior Maidens, or even the Berbils had been asked to help. It had been done before. 

Alluro was the one headed for the Control Room. When he got to the door, he listened in and laughed. "Knock knock!" he called mockingly. He gave a narrowed-eyed grin as he toyed with his prey. He could easily break in simply by shorting out the controls, but did not do so yet. "Didn't you miss me? Open uuuup, ThunderCat...or whoever you are." 

Ocellon said nothing, only backed up against the console, the nunchucks held awkwardly, but with panicky tightness in front of him, as if it were a shield. He was terrified. 

Alluro narrowed his eyes further. "I tire of this game, do-gooder." Taking only a minute to do so, Alluro shorted out the door and brought his Psyche Club out. 

Seeing the small cub that let a cry of startlement and backed up even further, he blinked, then started laughing. "A baby! They got a baby to look after Cats' Lair!" Still laughing, Alluro cast his Psyche orb at the child, where it hovered above his head. 

Ocellon flinched, expecting it to shoot at him, or strike him, but it did neither. "Get away from me!" 

Alluro laughed derisively. "I don't think so, cub. You are no match for Alluro. Give in, little one, and put that weapon down. You can not even lift it, how can you use it against me?" 

Ocellon only stared at him for a minute. This one called Alluro had a strange voice, but he was not affected by the Lunattack's hypnotic powers. He didn't even know that was what the Lunattack was trying to do. "No, go away, or you're gonna be in trouble!" 

Alluro growled and curled his lip. "You WILL obey me!" he insisted. "You have no choice! You don't stand a chance." 

While Alluro was discovering that Ocellon's strong will was unaffected by his psychic powers, Tygra and his group had finally driven off the Mutants, and Mumm-Ra was tiring. Just as the Mutants retreated, the ancient being finally had to give in and retreat himself. He had to get back to his sarcophagus. "Next time, Lion-O!" he cackled. "But good luck getting back to Cats' Lair in time!" Laughing maniacally, he flew off for his pyramid. 

"Lion-O!" Tygra said, as Lynx-O and company also returned victoriously. "We've got to get to Cats' Lair! And fast!' 

Lion-O nodded. "Yes, Tygra. To the ThunderTank!" 

"The ThunderStrike!" Lynx-O cried, and the ThunderCats split up, the 'Tank racing back towards Cats' Lair, the 'Strike headed for the Tower of Omens. 

Meanwhile, Alluro was getting frustrated that his powers had no effect on the child, and had retracted the orb and lunged at him. 

With a small shriek, Ocellon easily scampered between the Lunattack's long legs and backed towards the door, aiming the nunchucks at him. He fired off a shot from the blue one...and covered Alluro in foam. It was the wrong one! And it just made the Lunattack mad. As he advanced, Ocellon tried the other one, successfully firing a shot, but missing completely, and being knocked down by the force of the blast. Dropping the weapons, he turned and ran out of the door. 

The other Lunattacks had come to see what happened, and the trio...angry at being nearly deterred by a pint-sized Thunderian cub, gave pursuit. 

As the child ran through the halls on all fours, he heard a voice he was never so glad to hear in his life. Tygra! 

"Ocellon!" came the voice. Tygra and the others were outside, but the drawbridge was retracted! "Ocellon! Are you okay!?" 

Ocellon ducked in a room and got on the intercom, pushing the button that would project his voice outside. "There's Lunattacks in here! Tygra, help!" 

Tygra growled. Blast them. "Ocellon, get to the Control Room and put the drawbridge back out! We can't get past it!" 

Ocellon gulped, but when he heard the Lunattacks pass his position, he dashed out. Hearing him, the Lunattacks gave chase once more. 

The cub was fast on all fours, and got to the Control Room quickly. He pounced on the button to extend the bridge, then turned around, picking up the nunchucks once again. He hoped the ThunderCats would get there in time. 

Outside, as soon as the bridge closed, Panthro took the ThunderTank across. They all leapt out and ran in the door, headed for the Control Room. 

When they got there, they were just in time to see all three Lunattacks there, advancing menacingly on the small, defiant form of Tygra's ward. With an angry growl, Tygra snapped his bolo whip at Alluro's feet, knocking him to the floor. 

Ocellon cringed at the sound of the whip, as he always did, and crawled under the table while the ThunderCats drove the Lunattacks off. Tygra was usually careful not to use his weapon around him, but now was a different story. 

The Lunattacks were sorely outnumbered, and retreated hastily. Tygra immediately went over to the shaken cub and picked him up from under the console and hugged him tight. 

Ocellon wrapped his arms around Tygra and did not let go when he was lifted. 

"Are you okay, Sroya?" Tygra asked. "Are you hurt?' 

Ocellon shook his head. "No..." he said in a near whimper. "J-just scared." 

Tygra sat down and rocked him back and forth. "Okay, it's okay. You're safe now. I'm very proud of you, Sroya. You did good, little one, very good." He smoothed back the child's sweat-soaked mane. "You did a heck of a job holding those Loonies back." 

Ocellon let a giggle escape through the tears at the rude nickname and leaned tiredly against his guardian. It had been his first real battle, and he had come through it alive. He was still scared, and exhausted, but he felt good. 

"Come on, gang," Lion-O said, "Let's get this cleaned up." 


	9. 

A Cub's Trials 9

A few weeks went by, during which Ocellon was absolutely determined to be able to ride a spaceboard. He saw the Thunderkittens doing it all the time, and he wanted to learn how, it looked like so much fun! But the cub was so physically awkward, partly thanks to the fact he had grown through the years where he would normally learn mechanical skills in stasis, and partly thanks to the neglect and abuse he went through at Castle Plundaar. He just couldn't ride one without falling. He could sit down on the board, using his finger to push the accelerator, and ride it that way, but he wanted to do it like the Thunderkittens did! Wilykit and Wilykat did their best to help, but they made little progress. 

One day, Panthro watched a teaching session, and noted the boy's growing disappointment and frustration with himself. "Hey, kids," he called from the Cats' Paw, where his workshop was. "Come in here a minute, bring the spaceboards." 

Curious, the three cubs brought the boards in. 

"You know," Panthro said. "This kind of spaceboard might not be for you. Give me a few hours, maybe I can come up with something that you might do better with." 

Ocellon frowned in puzzlement, but then shrugged and smiled at the panther. "Okay," he said agreeably. "Thanks, Panthro." 

Panthro chuckled and ruffled the boy's hair. "Why don't you go play in the forest? Maybe hide and seek or something." 

"Hide and Seek!" Ocellon agreed with a grin. "Can't find me!" He scampered across the drawbridge and into the trees. Grinning, the twins ran after. 

A few hours later, they came back to see Panthro putting the finishing touches on a strange looking board. "Hey, just in time," he said. "Check this out." He grinned and set the board on the floor. It looked almost identical to the twins', but it was a little smaller, and it had a handle on it! It was a telescoping T-bar at the front, and Panthro knelt to show it off. 

"Look here. There's a little curved seat-back thing towards the back, so he can sit down on it, and the handle goes in halfway so that he can hold onto it. There's the accelerator on the side. But..." he continued, noting the boy's expression. He knew he did not like sitting down on them. "If he wants to stand, look here." He extended the handle to its full height and locked it into place. "He can use the handle to keep his balance, and stand forward." He had noticed the boy's biggest problem was standing sideways and facing forward. He just couldn't balance like that. "That way, he rides it like yours, but he can stand so it's comfortable, and has something to hold onto and help him steer." He grinned at the cubs. "So what do you think?" 

"Wow, Panthro," Wilykat said. "That's great! 

Ocellon was looking the board over, which was green on the bottom. A slow grin appeared on his face. "Yeah..." he said. "I like it... A lot!" He looked up at the mechanic. "Thanks, Panthro!" he said. 

Panthro chuckled. "You're welcome, little guy. Hope you have better luck with it." 

"Let's go out and try it!" Wilykit said, and once again, they all ran out, spaceboards in tow. Panthro watched them from the hangar. 

Not long after, the ThunderCats decided to do the tests on the suspension capsule, and poured over the electronic records. They deemed that by this point, the boy was almost seven! Everyone was amazed, at first they had thought him three, four at the very most, but that was because he was so emaciated and fearful and small. Once he had been tended to and gained some weight, they estimated five. But he was a lot older than they had figured. Ocellon himself, who had since learned how to count, recognize colors, and knew the alphabet thanks to the teachings of his new friends, was also surprised. 

When he found out, he grinned at the twins. "I'm almost seven!" he said. 

Lion-O chuckled. "We have it almost exact to the date, Ocellon," he said. "You should turn seven in about two months." 

"You'll have been with us for a whole year then, Ocellon!" Wilykat said. 

"Yeah," Wilykit agreed with a grin. "That's cool!" 

One other thing Lion-O and Tygra had discovered from the tests was that Ocellon had been with the Mutants for over a year, almost a year and a half. He must have been five when they got a hold of him. Neither of them could imagine being in that situation for a year. This they did not tell to Ocellon, as there was no need for him to know; it would only upset him. At least he didn't cringe anymore at the word, or their names. He knew by then the ThunderCats would protect him. 

"Hey, since you're older, now," Wilykit said with a wink, "Do you want to go exploring with me and Wilykat?" Though Ocellon spent most of his time with the Thunderkittens, around the Lair, and even a little ways into the forest, where he knew it was safe, he had never been any farther than that. 

Wilykat grinned. "Yeah, older cubs don't have to stay around the Lair." They had actually planned on asking if Ocellon could go with them that day, but the age determining had come up, and it seemed like a good reason. 

Ocellon grinned broadly and nodded. "Can I, Tygra?" he asked. 

Tygra thought a minute, then chuckled. "All right. I trust the Thunderkittens to keep you out of trouble." Anticipating the indignant look he got from the ocelot cub, he laughed and added, "And you're good at keeping yourself out of it, too." 

"That's better," the child said with a mischievous grin to let his guardian know he was kidding. 

Tygra burst out laughing. That he had not expected from the formerly submissive child. "Safe, am I now?" He returned the grin. "Have fun, kids. And be careful." 

"We will!" Wilykat called back, as they ran out f the Lair. 

They stopped at the hangar to get their spaceboards. Ocellon had had a much easier time with Panthro's new scooterboard version and had learned to ride it quickly. And he loved it! There was nothing quite as exhilarating as riding the wind, feeling it whipping his mane back behind him, blowing it from his face, of soaring above the ground. The feeling of freedom couldn't be beat. 

He jumped on the board and grinned in anticipation. He was ready to explore! "Let's go!" he said eagerly, and the trio took off. 

The wildcat twins had actually planned to check out an area of Third Earth they had never been to before, but first they wanted to show Ocellon around. They showed him the Berbil Village, and the Wollows and the Bolkins, and the child met these people with a good deal of curiosity. He had never seen any other races but Thunderians, Mutants, and Lunattacks. And Mumm-Ra, whatever he was. 

The twins took him to the Treetop Village, so they could visit a little, and Ocellon could meet the warrior Maidens. The younger Maidens thought Ocellon was the cutest thing, and he had to put up with a lot of fussing from them. The last place they went was Hook Mountain, where they paid a visit to the Snowman of Hook Mountain. Ocellon was fascinated with this place, the ice and snow. He had never seen snow before. And the palace was so big! Snowman was a little intimidating, but Ocellon grew to like him and his strange manner. And he and Snowmeow, the Snowman's feline mount, hit it off great. They were fast friends within minutes. 

Ocellon was having the time of his life, roaming Third Earth for the first time, and seeing all these new places. They had spent the whole day meeting the denizens, and there was no time to explore the unknown! Wilykat shrugged. "Well we have one more stop, the Unicorn Forest. We can continue tomorrow, I'm getting hungry!" 

"Yeah, Wilykit agreed. "I think we forgot lunch. Be ready for a Snarf lecture when we get back." All three cubs giggled. They were quite used to Snarf's lectures, and pretended to groan and moan when one was impending, but they didn't really mind. They loved the little guy and knew he did it only because he worried. 

"Have you even seen a unicorn, Ocellon?" Wilykat asked. 

Frowning in puzzlement, he shook his head. "No, what are they?" 

Wilykit grinned. "You'll see!" 

After a little travel time, the trio made it to the forest and flew in. After looking around a bit, they came upon the unicorn guardians, the two strange beings that looked over the gentle creatures. They were in a grove of trees, looking at a baby unicorn, and they looked worried. 

"Hi!" Wilykat greeted them as they flew in and landed. 

"What's wrong?" Wilykit asked. 

While Ocellon stared at the creature in amazement, the male unicorn guardian whose name the ThunderCats had never learned, said, "This one has gotten a large metal nail in her hoof," he said. "And we can't get it out." 

"She cannot run, and can hardly walk like this," his wife added. "And it's hurting her." 

"Aw, gee," Wilykit said. "Maybe we can help. Hold on a second, we'll go to Cats' Lair and get a medical kit, maybe that will help." 

Both the unicorn keepers smiled. "Thank you, my young friends, we would appreciate it," the female said. 

"Let's go, guys!" 

Ocellon didn't answer. He was enchanted by the beautiful creature and her mother, who had come up in the meantime to investigate. "Could I stay here?" he asked. 

The twins looked at each other. "Sure, Ocellon. We won't be long. Come on, Wilykit." 

She nodded, and they flew off. 

Ocellon gave the guardians an uncertain smile. "Hi...I'm Ocellon. 

They both chuckled. "You need not fear us, young Ocellon. You are welcome here," said the female. 

Ocellon's smile widened a little and he looked once again to the unicorns. "Can I touch them?" 

The male laughed. "Of course. They seem to like you." 

Ocellon reached out a tentative hand to touch the baby's back. "Wow, she's soft. And pretty." He giggled when the mother bent her head and nuzzled the boy's side. He ran his hand along the mother's neck. "I like them," he said. He stood on his toes to touch the tip of the Unicorn's horn, and she bent her head so the boy could reach. She was more than tolerant with the young cub, as a mother, she understood that what he was doing was helping him learn. 

"Ouch!" he yelped, then giggled. "It's sharp." 

The female smiled at him. "Yes, but these are gentle creatures. They would not hurt a soul." 

Ocellon nodded. "I like them. How did the baby get hurt?" 

The male guardian frowned. "She stepped on a large nail, little one. People leave their trash and drop their items in the forest, and don't pick them up. It does not happen often, but when it does, it can cause harm." 

Just then the wildcats returned, Wilykit carrying a medical kit and Wilykat with some tools. "Tygra was panicking at first," Wilykat said, a little amused. "He thought something had happened to you," he said to Ocellon as they got off their boards. 

"Yeah, but he was pretty happy when he found out you stayed here by yourself." Wilykit took the medkit and approached the baby. "Let me see your hoof, little guy," she said, and the young unicorn obliged, raising her leg so that the ThunderCat could take a look. 

"It's all the way in, too," Wilykat said. He opened the small tool box he had gotten from Panthro and took out a pair of pliers. "I can't think of any other way to get it out, it's a big nail..." he handed the pliers to his sister, who winced. "And it's gonna hurt, the poor thing." 

The unicorn keepers nodded their consent and laid a comforting hand on the baby's head. 

Wilykat opened the medkit and took out the numbing salve. "This'll help, anyway," he said, and applied it to the baby's hoof. 

"Here goes," Wilykit said, after the salve had time to work. With the others looking on, she took the pliers, got a good grip on the nail, and pulled it out in one smooth movement. 

All five of them winced as the baby let a small, strange-sounding shriek, and tried to bolt. While the guardians caught her and calmed her down, Wilykit bit her lip. "Awwwww, I'm sorry, girl," she said to the baby, petting her mane. "I know it hurt, I'm sorry. We had to get it out. Come here, I'll clean it, and get you fixed up, okay?" The salve had helped a great deal, it would have been much worse without it. 

With a small whimper, the baby limped forward and once again raised her hoof to be tended. 

Wilykit, with her brother's help, cleansed the wound and bandaged it, then stood up. 

"Thank you, young ThunderCats," the male said with a smile. "I know Tiki thanks you, too." The baby agreed by nuzzling the twins. 

"Glad to have been of help," Wilykat said. 

Wilykit nodded. "We'd better get back to the Lair before Snarf gets even more worried." 

The keepers smiled. "Until next time," 

Ocellon got onto his scooter board and waved. "Bye!" he said to them. They raised their hands in return. 

Tygra smiled at the children as they got back to Cats' Lair. "Did you have a good time, kids?" he asked. 

"We sure did, Tygra!" Wilykat exclaimed. 

"We took Ocellon around Third Earth and introduced him to all our allies," Wilykit added. 

Tygra chuckled and picked the youth up. "Is that so?" 

Ocellon nodded excitedly. "We saw the Warrior Maidens, and the Berbils, and the Wollows, and the Bolkins and the Snowmen...boy, is it cold up there! But Snowmeow is really cool! And I saw unicorns!" 

The tiger laughed aloud. It was good to see the eagerness in the cub's eyes. He saw no trace of the fear anymore. Only enthusiasm, and excitement at seeing new things. This was a whole new world for him. "I'm glad you had fun. Are you hungry?" 

"Yeah!" came the response from all three. 

Tygra smiled and set Ocellon down. "Let's go eat." 


	10. 

A Cub's Trials 10

The kids never did explore the next day. The villains were at it again, and once again, Ocellon was left behind at the Lair alone. He had no trouble that time, though the boy was on edge the whole time. Lion-O thought he would make a fine ThunderCat someday, and thought he should talk to the kid about it. 

That day didn't come for a few months. When he thought it was the right time, when he was about the age the twins had been when they started their training, he got the others together. In the Council Chamber with the other ThunderCats, he called the child into the room. 

Ocellon, who had been taking a shower, wondered what they could be talking about Tygra was in there to keep an eye on him, and the boy peeked out to give Tygra a questioning look. "Did Lion-O call me?" he asked. He had never been called by the intercom before. 

Tygra, who knew what his lord had in mind, smiled. "Yes, Sroya," he said. "He did. Let's get you dried off so we can see what he wants." 

Ocellon nodded and stepped out of the shower, accepting Tygra's help in drying him off. "He's not mad at me for something, is he?" 

Tygra laughed. "No, little one," he said. "He's not mad." 

"How come he wants to talk to me?" He was a little nervous around Lion-O sometimes. He was so imposing, and his child's instincts could sense the power the lion held. 

"You'll see, it's all right. Lion-O doesn't bite." 

"Yes he does," Ocellon said, as they walked out of the bathroom. "I saw him bite Alluro once when he had his hand over his mouth so he couldn't call the Sword of Omens." 

Tygra roared with laughter. "That's a different story," he told the boy. 

Still naked from the shower, Ocellon started for the council chamber. "Hey, let's get you in your pajamas, little one." 

Ocellon still didn't understand what was wrong with being naked. They went naked on Thundera, and everyone was born naked. He just didn't get it. Even he went naked half the time. But he shrugged and got his pajamas on, an old pair of Wilykat's. 

When the pair walked into the council room, they were met by the whole group; Lynx-O, Pumyra, Bengali, and Snarfer had come from the Tower of Omens for the little meeting. Tygra gave the cub a reassuring squeeze and joined the others. Lion-O was smiling. 

Ocellon looked a little uncertainly at the group. Though most of them leaned casually against a console, or sat in a chair, the boy was more than a little intimidated. He looked uncertainly at Tygra. 

Lion-O chuckled. How the boy reacted to this would be part of what determined what was decided here. "We have some things to talk to you about, Ocellon," he said seriously, but still had the soft smile on his face. 

"D-did I do something wrong?" 

Amidst a few chuckles, Lion-O shook his head. "No, Ocellon. But we have something a little serious to talk with you about." He noted that the youth relaxed a good deal. 

"Okay," he said, and looked once more to Tygra before giving his attention back to Lion-O. 

"Have a seat, Ocellon." Once the boy had climbed into one of the seats at the council table, the others also sat. There were five that had no seats, as there were only seven seats at the table. Bengali, Wilykit, Wilykat, and the Snarfs sat on a wide platform near the window, through which the brilliant starlight shone through. "I know Tygra's been telling you about Thundera, and showing you all the records we have of it. And you've been learning to count, and to read. I'd like to know a little of what you've learned. Could you tell me what you remember about Thundera?" 

Ocellon considered. "Do you mean what I remember Tygra telling me or what I remember myself?" 

Lion-O smiled. The boy was a thinker. He was intelligent, if somewhat behind his age. "Both." 

"Well..." He thought a minute. He was so young, and his traumatic experience the first thing that happened when he came out of stasis didn't help. "Not a lot." His face grew somber as he thought. A lot of things had jogged his memories, including the photo record that had been in his pod, which he looked at often. "I remember Mama and Papa. Kinda. Papa wanted to teach me how to throw his boomerang, and mama didn't want him to. They argued..." The child almost looked like he wanted to cry, but giggled instead. "Mama got mad and poured milk all over Papa's head." 

There was a chorus of laughter. "I bet he wasn't too happy about that," Wilykit said. 

Ocellon grinned. "He laughed, and she laughed, and it was okay." The child became serious again as he thought once more. "I remember it had a funny sky. Orange, but not all the time." He shook his head and gave Lion-O an apologetic look. "That's all." 

"That's all right, Ocellon. Now what do you remember from what you've learned from Lynx-O and Tygra and the other ThunderCats?" 

Ocellon smiled a little. He was a fast learner, and his ability to remember names and faces had predicted his keen faculty to learn and remember things. He started telling all he remembered about the monarchy, and King Claudus, and Jaga, and what the planet was like. He told all he learned from Lynx-O's stories, and his guardian's teachings. 

Lion-O smiled. "Good. I'm impressed. You have a good memory and seem to like to learn things." 

Ocellon beamed. He was not often complimented from the Lord of the ThunderCats. "I like to hear stories. Snarf told me one about you, too, Lion-O." 

Lion-O raised a brow, as Snarf grimaced and hid behind Bengali. 

The other ThunderCats noted this and were now very intrigued. They all turned to Ocellon. "What, Ocellon?" Pumyra said. 

"Yeah, what did Snarf tell you?" Panthro asked. He was as curious as the rest. 

Ocellon liked telling the stories he heard almost as much as hearing them. "Well, he told me of one time Lion-O was not even as old as me, he was just a little kid, and he got in his papa's room. He had a toy sword that looked like the Sword of Omens, and he dressed up in his papa's long underwear, and got on top of the Cats' Lair when it was on Thundera, and was yelling, 'Dunder, dunder, dunder, DunderTats, hoooo!' His papa didn't know where he was and had all the ThunderCats looking for him." Ocellon was giggling as he told the story. As many times as he had heard it, it still made him laugh. 

Everyone in the room burst out laughing except for Snarf and Lion-O. Lion-O turned bright red and put his head on the table, and Snarf hid still behind Bengali. Those who had been ThunderCats back then remembered that little incident. Claudus has been a little embarrassed, but Lion-O had only been three at the time. He locked the trap door to the top of the head after that. The younger ones had no idea about that particular story of the monarchy and it cracked them up. 

When the laughter had died down, Lion-O lifted his reddened face and started laughing himself. "Good thing I learned to say it right," he said good-naturedly. Snarf, who was relieved Lion-O wasn't mad, came out of hiding. "Well, let's get back to the subject at hand..." But as he looked around at the grinning faces, he thought he would not hear the end of that for a long time. 

But everyone did settle down to get back to business, except for the occasional snicker as someone pictured a young Lion-O in his daddy's long johns, standing on top of Cat's Lair with a toy sword. 

"What do you know about the ThunderCats, Ocellon?" He nodded as the boy told everything he could remember. "And what is the Code of Thundera?" 

"Justice, Truth, Honor, and Loyalty," came the prompt reply. 

"And what do those mean?" 

Ocellon frowned. "Well...Truth is not lying...and Honor is being nice, and doing the right thing, and keeping promises. Loyalty is not changing to the bad guys' side...and Justice is making wrong things right." Ocellon looked at Lion-O to see if he had gotten it right. 

Lion-O nodded as Tygra smiled proudly and gave the cub a descreet thumbs-up. "Well, the other ThunderCats and I have talked, and we all agree that if you are interested, that you are ready to start training. We could use more ThunderCats, and you have the courage, and you understand and follow the Code of Thundera." He smiled at the cub's astonished expression, and the amazement. "So, are you interested, Ocellon?" 

Ocellon's first impulse was to shout, "Yes!" and jump up and down, but then he thought about something. "Would...would I still be able to play and explore?" 

Lion-O smiled at him. "Yes, Ocellon. Wilykit and Wilykat are ThunderCats, they play, and explore. Even we adults play and explore sometimes, it is how we learn and find things out." 

Ocellon smiled decisively, barely able to contain his excitement. "Yes," he said, nodding eagerly. "I didn't think I could be a ThunderCat." 

Tygra frowned a little. "Why not, Sroya?" 

Ocellon shrugged and looked down a little. "Well, I'm just a kid, and I'm little, and can't do things very well. And I'm just a regular person, not a noble or anyhting, just a commoner." 

Tygra looked the child in the eye. "Ocellon, never let anyone tell you you can't do something." He narrowed his eyes a little as he thought that the Mutants must have convinced the cub he was worthless. "You've got courage, and you do have your strengths." 

"Yes," Bengali agreed. "Everyone does. You just have to find yours." 

That's right," Snarf said, rising up on his tail on the floor. "Like I always say..." 

"You never know what you can do until you try," chorused everyone in the room, Ocellon included. He had heard it many times himself. 

Snarf looked around innocently. "Do I say that a lot?" 

Panthro threw his head back and laughed. "All the time, Snarf. I hear it in my dreams." 

"Oh, very funny, Panthro." The little snarf sulked. 

Lion-O stood. "Then it's settled. You will begin your training tomorrow, Ocellon. Panthro is going to start teaching you how to fight." The boy bit his lip and nodded solemnly. Lion-O smiled warmly at the boy and extended a hand down to him. "Congratulations, kid," he said. 

A little nervously, Ocellon shook the young lord's hand. 

Tygra knew the boy was feeling a little overwhelmed and uncertain at the unusual event, and went to pick the cub up. "Well it's about time for bed, kiddo. You too, twins. How about a bedtime story, Sroya?" 

As the twins groaned, Ocellon nodded and sighed, relieved at something he was used to, and made him feel better. 

"Okay. I will tell you an old story of how the leopard got its spots." 

As everyone cleared out, Lion-O watched the boy. This was good...he was the only one that had survived Thundera, for all he knew. Perhaps his pod had been blasted from one of the ships the Mutants destroyed. The pods were spaceworthy in case of such an event. That was probably what happened. But other than the Thunderkittens, they were all adults, and one day they would not be there. They needed someone to continue the tradition, and carry down the Code of Thundera. He hoped they would some day find all of their countrymen that had survived. 


	11. 

A Cub's Trials 11

The next day, Ocellon did begin learning how to fight. Panthro had gotten the boomerang that had been in his suspension capsule and given it to the child. It had been his father's after all, it seemed the natural weapon for the cub to use. He spent the whole day teaching the child how to use it, and telling him about weapon safety, and when he should, and should not use it. He told the child that he should carry it with him all the time to get used to it. Needless to say, after a full day of throwing the boomerang, and learning some hand-to-hand fighting, the cub was exhausted. Though he would receive a little bit of training every day, he would only go through a full day once a week. 

After dinner, Tygra took the child aside gently and explained to him that it was time he moved in with the Thunderkittens. Ocellon protested wildly at that, but Tygra shook his head. 

"But I don't _want_ to!" he said, beginning to cry a little bit. Holding the boy on his lap, the tiger told him gently but firmly that a ThunderCat must learn to face the dark. 

Ocellon sniffed and bit his lip, and hung onto his guardian. "Then I don't _want_ to be a ThunderCat!" 

Tygra considered telling him that he did want to be, that he shouldn't say that, that he was a big boy, and he could do it. But he didn't. He supposed now he would see for sure how sure the cub was in his desire to be a ThunderCat, and see if he had it in him to make the right choice. "That is your choice, little one," he said gently, stroking the boy's mane. "You must decide. There are things you will have to face if you are to become a ThunderCat. And if you want to go on with it, you will have to be ready to face them." 

Ocellon bit harder on his lip and thought for a long time. Tygra almost thought that he might have fallen asleep, but the boy finally nodded. "Okay," he said sounding a bit subdued. "But...could you stay with me a little bit?" 

Tygra beamed proudly at his ward and gave him a squeeze. "That I can do. I can come in and tell you stories before bed." 

Ocellon nodded. 

The tiger took the cub by his shoulders and looked him right in the eye. "You will make a fine ThunderCat." Smiling through the tears at the compliment, Ocellon nodded again. "All right, let's get the bed set up. The twins have a big room, you should be fine in there." 

With the help of Wilykit and Wilykat, Tygra and Ocellon dragged a smaller bed out of storage, one that they sometimes used for small visitors, such as Bolkins or Wollows, when they had no others to use. But it was just the right size for Ocellon, even somewhat big. They did a good deal of adjusting to the room to accommodate the new addition, and when they were done, it almost looked as though the large room was divided in three: Wilykit and Wilykat each with their own section, and Ocellon with his, and the few belongings from the capsule as well as the items he had gotten since he got there. A rack was set up for his clothes, and a small dresser dragged out of storage and set up. 

Despite his unwillingness to leave Tygra, Ocellon was pleased with his little area. It was something all his own. 

"All right, kids," Tygra said. "Twins, get into your pajamas. You've brushed your teeth and everything?" 

They nodded. 

"All right. Time for a story, then." He picked up the book he had brought into the room, one that had Thunderian legends and the like in it, salvaged from the flagship. As soon as all three cubs were settled in, he began the tale. Ocellon, who was exhausted from the tiring day, fell asleep before half of it was over, the twins soon followed. Tygra chuckled and left the room. 

Ocellon woke up only once during the night., His nightmares had chosen a bad night to strike, and the cub awakened with a terrified scream. This one had been worse than the others, perhaps induced by the unfamiliar nighttime surroundings. 

Both Wilykit and Wilykat were on their feet instantly, looking around for trouble before they realized what was wrong. "Ocellon..." Wilykat began, when the cub jumped out of bed and ran out of the room. 

Wilykat started after him, but his sister held him back. "Let him deal with this," she said to him, and he nodded. 

Ocellon ran to Tygra's room, busting in on Cheetara before finding his guardian, who looked after him, a little startled and concerned. 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, little one," Tygra said softly, as the boy jumped on the bed and clung to him. The groggy tiger was suddenly wide awake as he picked the child up and held him. "It's all right, Sroya, you're safe. What happened?" 

Ocellon was sobbing too hard at first to answer. But when he was calm enough to choke out his reply, he told Tygra of the nightmare he had had. He was back at Plundaar, and S-S-Slithe was not happy with him running away. 

Tygra soothed the child for only a few moments, until he calmed down a little, then he led him back to his new bed. The boy whined that he didn't want to sleep here anymore, but didn't put up more than token resistance as Tygra walked him to the bed. Now that he was over the nightmare, Ocellon frowned, sniffed a little, and said, "Growing up sucks." 

Tygra smiled. "Maybe so, Sroya...but I think you're doing fine at it." He ruffled Ocellon's mane and left him once more. He slept through the night, having vanquished the demons for now. 

The next day, Ocellon went exploring with the twins, this time finally checking out a few new areas. He trained with Panthro in the afternoon, and thus went the schedule. Lion-O and Tygra taught the child more of the Code of Thundera, Cheetara helped him with his instincts and feelings, as well as his running. Ocellon never did manage to be able to run fast on all two feet, but when he dropped to all fours, there were few that could catch him. 

Lynx-O taught him some fighting and how to be aware of his surroundings. He trained a full day once a week, in the afternoons the rest of the week, and he slept in the twins' room, as Tygra told him he must. He woke with nightmares less and less as the months went on, and all the ThunderCats could see the child progressing; maturing a bit, not being so afraid of things. He started going with the ThunderCats when they went on a mission, whether it was gathering Thundrillium or fending off the Lunattacks. The cub helped once in battle with Mumm-Ra...and did not run. They even had a bout with Safari Joe, who had ditched his mechanical "babysitter". Ocellon was completely intriqued by this strange human who hunted other people; he was interesting. Not nice, either, but still very interesting. But they sent him packing. 

Still he could not bring himself to go with them when they engaged the Mutants. He couldn't. He tried, and usually ran, or flew his scooter board back to the Lair. he was so embarrassed when he lost his courage like that, though the others reassured him, and did not chastise him for it. The poor kid just could not face them. 

After once such incident, Tygra found the cub crying in his room. The twins were elsewhere. "What's the matter, Sroya?" he asked, though he knew full well. He wanted the cub to talk about it. Ocellon only shook his head. Tygra sat down on his bed, beside which his ward was kneeling with his face in the mattress. "Come here, Sroya," he said gently, and held his arms out. Ocellon stood and climbed into his lap and buried his face in Tygra's uniform. 

"All right, little one, let's talk a little, okay?" After a couple of minutes of smoothing his mane, he took the cub gently by the shoulders and pulled him away so he could look at him. "It's okay, Sroya, you know you can talk to me. Dry your eyes, little one." He smiled as he handed him a handkerchief and he did just that. "Let's talk." 

Ocellon sniffed. "I can't, Tygra. I get too scared, and I remember everything, and my legs don't listen to me and I run away. I don't like being a chicken." He lowered his eyes. "I want you to be proud of me." 

"Ohhh, child." Tygra pulled the child in close and hugged him tight. "Sroya, don't ever think I'm not proud, or that I am ashamed. I am always proud of you, little one. Never forget that. I understand how you feel about the Mutants, but you have come such a long way. I am _always_ proud of you. Believe me." He smiled down at the child. "To become a ThunderCat, you'll have to face your fears. The Thunderkittens were eight when they were anointed. But before that ever happens, you have to face your fear." He pulled the cub away once more to look at him. "And you will. I have faith in you." 

Ocellon sniffed and regarded his guardian for a minute. "You do?" 

Tygra chuckled. "Yes. I do." 

Ocellon nodded. "Okay. I-I'll try." 

Tygra beamed. "Good boy." 

That day, however, didn't come for a while. 


	12. 

A Cub's Trials 12

Ocellon continued his training, and steadily progressed. Though he was still awkward, and always would be, he had become accurate with his boomerang, and hardly ever forgot to bring it with him. In addition, he learned his way around Third Earth and became friends with its denizens. He learned a lot, but changed little, except to conquer more of his fear. He got so that Tygra's whip didn't faze him, and he even tried to use it once. He ended up tangling himself up, and didn't hear the end of that for a while from his amused friends, but he took it well. He giggled about it along with the others. He remained hyperactive and young for his age, but more confident and sure of himself. 

Only the Mutants remained. Before he could even think of being a ThunderCat, he had to be able to face them without running away. The Mutants themselves didn't help. In fits of anger when they knew they were going to lose, they screamed at the ThunderCats, and the cub, telling them just what he was going to do to them. That alone was enough to make the cub want to hide under his bed. 

One day, the Mutants were at it again. When asked to come along, Ocellon only shook his head and said he would stay and look after the Lair with Snarf. Though they tried to convince him to come, the cub just shook his head and curled up in one of the seats of the Control Room, being small enough to be totally hidden. 

With a sigh, Lion-O said, "All right, come on, gang. They've got all their subordinates with them, we're gonna need everyone. Snarf, your nephew is staying at the Tower, you stay here at the lair in case Ocellon changes his mind." 

"You got it, snarf, snarf." 

With that, they were gone. 

"So, Ocellon, you want to play checkers or Go Fish or something?" 

"No," came the dejected reply from the small cub. 

Snarf sighed. "All right, snarf, snarf. Let's just watch the screens, then." Ocellon nodded and turned them on. 

Meanwhile, the Feliner and ThunderTank sped towards the Berbil Village. The Mutants were once again ravaging the village, and injuring the Berbils, and it seemed all of Castle Plundaar was there. The ThunderCats had thought that they were simply doing this because they needed someone to terrorize, or to burn the crops, thus making things hard on the Berbils AND the ThunderCats. And by all appearances, that's what it was. But they were wrong...very wrong. 

Little did they know, that not only were all the Mutants out in full force, but the Lunattacks were hiding out in the village, waiting to ambush the heroes, and they were completely caught by surprise. As they were overwhelmed, they fought like demons, but there were just too many of them and they had been disarmed and bound. 

"Nyah-hah-hah-hah-hah!!!" cackled Jackalman cackled. "Looks like you've met your match, this time, ThunderCats!" He grinned at the fallen Panthro, who spit on his foot. Jackalman kicked him. 

S-S-Slithe bowed to Luna. "Thank you, Lunattacks! Working together to get rid of these miserable felines was a good idea, yeeees?" 

Luna gave him a look. "Perhaps, Mutant. At any rate, it will do my heart good to see them suffer!" Her shrill voice shrieked laughter, which was easily infectious. Alluro started in, and Monkian, and soon, as the Berbils cowered, and the ThunderCats glowered, every villain in the town was laughing in triumph. 

"Hoo, let's get them back to Castle Plundaar, hoo, hoo!" Monkian said. 

"Yeeees, Monkian. Vultureman! Load up some of these worthless cats into the Flying Machine, get some of those simians to help!" The leader of the Mutants grinned as the still struggling ThunderCats were brought to various vehicles to be taken captive. Those that were conscious, anyway. Wilykit and Tygra had both been knocked out in the fight. Wilykat was worrying about his sister, especially when they were separated, Panthro was using the Mutants as spit targets, and Lion-O was threatening them to let them go. 

Everything but the spit went unheeded, and that was taken care of with some duct tape. 

The Berbils were not the only ones that saw this. The Snarfs and Ocellon were watching on the fortresses' screens. Snarfer was running around the Control Room of the Tower of Omens, wondering what he was going to do. Snarf had his hands to his head and was loudly lamenting. Ocellon had said nothing but a shout of protest when Tygra was knocked unconscious. Not even hearing Snarf's worried wonderings of what they would do, all the child could do was watch, horrified, as the ThunderCats were thrown into vehicles and taken back to the place Ocellon hoped he would never go to again: Castle Plundaar. 

"Ocellon, what are we gonna do?! They've covered the Eye of Thundera, Lion-O can't even call it back to him! Ohhh, reeeaarrrr, what are we gonna do?" 

Ocellon was nearly in tears. He was going through so many incidents that happened to him at that horrible place, thinking of everything he had gone through. "I-I d-d-don't...I d-don't know, Snarf..." 

"Oh, no!" Snarf exclaimed. "Ocellon, look!" 

The boy turned his tear-filled eyes to the screen. "Uh oh..." Lunattacks. Again. It had been a year since they last tried; Ocellon was now eight years old......and now they were going to try again. Luna, Amok, and Redeye were headed or the Tower of Omens, while Alluro, Chilla, And Tug Mug...the group that Ocellon had fended off once before...was coming for him and Snarf. "We gotta go..." 

"And leave the Lair undefended?!" 

Ocellon wiped his eyes, "They got in before, we can't get caught, we can't, we can't..." 

Snarf nodded. "You're right...let's go out the back way. We can take the Hovercat." 

Ocellon shook his head. "It's at the Tower. The ThunderClaw...they took that to help the Berbils. Snarf, I hope they don't hurt Tygra...or the twins...or any of them...." 

Snarf rose up on his tail and laid a comforting hand on the cub's shoulder. "We'll figure something out," he said. "But for now, we should go." 

Ocellon nodded, made sure he had his boomerang, and ran for the back door. 

They watched from a distance. Tug Mug busted in through the ceiling, and Ocellon and Snarf could hear them looking for them. They decided then would be a good time to leave, and headed for the Tower. 

Snarfer met them halfway. He had come to the same conclusion that if they got captured, they would be of no use to anyone. Ocellon had gotten his spaceboard, the only vehicle left. "Uncle Osbert!" Snarfer exclaimed, as Ocellon landed his spaceboard so they could meet. "Luna and Redeye broke into the Tower of Omens! And the Mutants got the ThunderCaaaaaats!" he wailed. 

Snarf nodded, not even chastising his nephew for the usage of his real name. "I know, Snarfer, I know. I just don't know what to do about it..." He looked up at Ocellon, who was still crying. "It's okay, Ocellon, we'll think of something!" 

"But they've got Tygra!" 

"I know...and Lion-O...and everyone else, too," Snarf agreed. 

Snarfer thought hard, then his eyes lit up. "I know, Uncle Osbert! Er, I mean Snarf. Maybe we could--LOOK OUT!" he suddenly screeched, as his eyes cut upward. 

Ocellon and Snarf both looked up and had no time to say anything as a large, round form came right at them from the sky! Ocellon screamed, as the Snarfs yelped in unison, and all three were knocked aside as the form crashed to the ground among them. "Tug Mug!" they cried together. 

"That's right, you miserable furballs!" Tug Mug started blasting with his carbine. At the same time, Chilla, on her Icerunner, and the others in the Lunattacker were arriving on the scene. Any semblance of control disintegrated, and Ocellon and the Snarfs scattered, running as fast as they could. 

Ocellon managed to lose them. He had practiced running on all fours, until he could run as fast as any of the ThunderCats...except Cheetara. But what his keen feline ears told him didn't make him feel any better. The Snarfs had been captured as well! Now he was all alone, everyone else was captured. And he knew S-S-Slithe wanted to catch him...and kill him. Slowly. Biting his lip, Ocellon wandered around, looking around corners and trees every few seconds, afraid that at any moment, someone would pop out from behind a tree and catch him. Finally, he sat down under one, put his head in his arms, and sobbed in fright and confusion. 


	13. 

A Cub's Trials 13

Meanwhile, at Castle Plundaar, the ThunderCats had been separated and locked in the dungeon. After S-S-Slithe had gloated until he was tired of it, they left the ThunderCats for the night. He was in the process of chewing out the Lunattacks in the meantime for letting the ocelot escape, but he was not worried; he knew the kid was terrified of him. But he was still mad. After he had fulfilled his bargain with the Lunattacks for their help, and given them the gold they had agreed upon as payment...as well as their written word of a sharing of power that they had no intention of keeping, S-S-Slithe decided to see just how much abuse a grown Thunderian could take. 

With the help of a few Mutant guards, S-S-Slithe went to the cell Tygra was in and dragged him out. His arms were still chained behind him, his ankles tightly bound. S-S-Slithe laughed. When he was properly taught his place, S-S-Slithe would gladly put him to work. But for now... 

The Reptilian had the guards drag the struggling tiger to the center of the dungeon, where most of the torture devices stood, and switch his bonds so that his hands were in front and his ankles apart enough so that he could work. 

Tygra growled a Thunderian epithet. "You'll never get away with this, S-S-Slithe!" he vowed. 

S-S-Slithe laughed. "Oh, but you're wrong, ThunderCat! We've already gotten away with it, yeees! Soon, we'll have that brat you've taken such a liking to. We'll teach him what happens to those that oppose the Mutants of Plundaar!" 

Jackalman cackled. "Yeah, after a few weeks of torment, we'll kill him." 

"Slowly," Monkian added. 

"We'll make sure you get a front row seat, Tygra, caaaaw!" 

Tygra roared. "You'll never hurt him again, you sick Mutant bastards! He's too smart for you to catch him!" 

S-S-Slithe hissed angrily and took the whip off the wall. "Maybe so, Tygra," he said. "But for now, I'll be content to let _you_ get a close up preview!" With that, he hauled back and let loose with the whip across the tiger's back while the other three Mutants whooped and cackled. Ignoring the protests from the other ThunderCats, he did not stop until he made the tiger scream, which took longer than S-S-Slithe would have liked. Even then he continued. He wanted to see just how much a grown cat could take before blacking out. 

Meanwhile, the Lunattacks were taking advantage of the absence of ThunderCats and looting and terrorizing. All of Third Earth was in despair. Even Mumm-Ra was getting into it, and came often to laugh at the captives, as he could now effectively rule Third Earth once again. Things looked bleak. 

The ThunderCats were captive for a few days, during which the Mutants could not find the young ocelot that they were so angry with. The child had made fools of them once for escaping and they wanted to get him back for it. But they couldn't find him. 

After a day of panic and tears, Ocellon had thought at first to go to the Berbils, maybe to hide, or the Bolkins, or the Wollows. But he had quickly found that without the ThunderCats to keep order on Third Earth, the villains had picked out these people as targets for their reign of terror. He found his spaceboard, wrecked by the Lunattacks, but not so that it didn't work. The child tried going to the Warrior Maidens, even the Snowmen of Hook Mountain, but even they had fallen in just that week to Evil. Mumm-Ra had quickly seized control of the situation, and with him aiding the Mutants and Lunattacks, the denizens of Third Earth stood no chance. Even the great warriors of the Snowknight's kingdom had fallen to the concerted efforts of the villains, and the courageous fighters of the Warrior Maiden's Village had done no better. 

And so the child hid. He had managed to find some sanctuary with the Unicorn Guardians, whom he had become fast friends with, and whom the villains took little interest in. They were powerless to help, other than hiding the now-fugitive; they were as gentle and kind as the unicorns they safeguarded. But it was enough. For now. 

As each day went by, Ocellon could not stop thinking of what the Mutants might be doing to his friends, and his guardian, whom he loved more than anything. It tore him apart to think about it...but he could not get it from his mind. How could he? He knew what the worms were capable of, he knew it only too well. And that was the reason that he could not bring himself to go anywhere near the Castle, until one night. 

Ocellon was tossing and turning in a fitful sleep, clutching his boomerang as the only thing of comfort he had, and sucking his thumb. But neither could dispel the horrors he dreamt of. For once since he was rescued from them, he did not dream of being tormented; he dreamed he was forced to watch as Tygra was tormented... 

The cub woke with a scream. 

The unicorn guardians tried their best to comfort the child, but there no consoling him, for what he had dreamt was a very real possibility, and he knew it. When the guardians left, he stood and thought for a long time. He couldn't bear to think of it anymore and the horrible thought that they might kill him, or had already, did it. His mind was made up. 

Shaking in terror, the cub waited until the guardians were sleeping once more, and jumped on his spaceboard and silently sped away. 

Ocellon stopped outside the Castle he had hoped never to see again. The Castle he had run away from more than once when on a mission with the ThunderCats. And now he would be going in. 

Alone. 

The small cub stayed outside in the gassy swamp for almost two hours, nearly frozen in fear, trying to gather the courage to go in. He knew every twist and turn of the castle, every window and exit. And finally, he went. 

Gliding smoothly on his spaceboard, he made his way in the back where the sensors were erratic, and there was less chance of him being discovered. Though he didn't know it, he needn't have bothered; they had the scanners off. They had gotten overconfident. With the ThunderCats in captivity, why should they worry? Who would dare attack the mighty Mutants of Plundaar? 

Parking the spaceboard outside behind a large rock, he crawled in through a small grate, his small size making it easy to do so. 

To the cub's dismay, he ended up on the dungeon level. That alone, seeing the many devices that had been used to discipline him more than once, made him freeze up. He squeezed his eyes shot tight and willed his terror to go away or at least reliquish its hold on his body. When he was finally able to move, he had to fight the urge to run as fast as he could and never come back. 

But he did neither. He truly was courageous, though he would not think so. He was in tears as he crept along the halls to the main cell block. 

It was strange being back after so long. It was all horribly familiar to him, but it still seemed alien. A place he no longer belonged, or could come close to calling home. And at least for that he was grateful. 

What Ocellon saw when he got there made him gasp. Tygra was the first one he saw, as he was chained to the wall, facing outward, and shirtless. He had been beaten with the whip, and long lines of blood crossed his chest and stomach. He lay propped against the wall, his head down, and only half asleep. His face was tensed in a grimace of pain. 

Ocellon bit his lip and whimpered softly at seeing his guardian like that. It scared him to see someone he thought couldn't be defeated by anyone beaten and helpless. And someone he loved was in pain. That hurt the worst. 

Looking around one last time, his movements quick and nervous, Ocellon scampered on all fours to his guardian, and tentatively touched his leg, where it didn't look like he was hurt. 

Tygra jerked awake, his eyes showing the startlement, fear, anger, and then amazement. "Sroya!" he whispered, then winced as the child burst into tears and threw his arms around him. "Sroya, what are you doing here, little one?" His mind was a whirl of confused emotions, happiness at seeing his charge, fear that the child would be caught, amazement that he had found his way there, and above all, pride he had had the courage to do it. 

"I-I-...I...I couldn't stay away, I, I had to come, I don't want them to hurt you anymore..." Ocellon held tight to his guardian, not even noticing he was getting blood on himself from Tygra's injuries. 

Tygra managed a smile, though he wished he could hug the boy. "I was right in giving you that name, brave one," he said softly. 

By this time, Lion-O was also awake, and expressed his own surprise. "Ocellon!" he whispered. "Get out! You must get out of here before the Mutants catch you in here!" 

Ocellon finally tore himself away from his guardian, and wiped his face off. He was a little scared to see it was blood. His guardian was pretty hurt. "N-no..." he said, contradicting the Lord of the ThunderCats for the first time. "I can't." It was true, the cub couldn't leave his friends here; he had to try to free them. Of course the fact that he knew where everything was helped. "Hold on..." 

Peering around the corner at the Mutant guard...sleeping, how typical...the cub scampered on all fours to his side and in one swift move swiped his keys. Running back, he took the cuffs off of Tygra's ankles, then got a crate to stand on to release his hands. 

Tygra dropped to his hands and knees with a sharp hiss of pain, as Ocellon went to his side and threw his arms around him. Tygra put his own arms around the boy and hugged him tight. 

Once he was let go form his guardian's embrace, the small cub shakily went to Lion-O's cell and unlocked the door. 

"Good work, Ocellon!" Lion-O told the boy as he stiffly walked out. He put his hands on the child's shoulders. "Very good." 

Despite himself, Ocellon smiled at the praise. 

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!?" 

Ocellon screamed at the sound of the hated voice as the enraged S-S-Slithe busted in the door. He had heard the goings on, and finally gone down to see what in the name of Plundaar was going on. He had knocked the guard outside senseless for falling asleep on the job, and now he narrowed his eyes in anger as the small ocelot cub hid behind Tygra. "You miserable wretch!" he growled, stepping forward to grab the kid. 

Tygra, despite his pain, stepped in the Reptilian's way. "Don't touch him, S-S-Slithe. You've caused the cub enough pain." 

S-S-Slithe only growled and hollered for the other Mutants to get in there and help him, then swung his tail at Tygra. 

The tiger, who was injured to begin with, and had been fed hardly at all, was too weak to avoid the attack. 

"Ocellon, run!" Lion-O commanded, and this time, he did. Lion-O was free, he could free the others; the child's considerable courage had finally broken. With quickness born of terror, Ocellon dropped to all fours and ran as fast as he could, running right under S-S-Slithe's legs and out the door. 

It was deja-vu...it was happening all over again. Ocellon was running for his life, although this time he wasn't weak from months of abuse and hard work. He heard a fight going on in the dungeon as he ran, and he hoped his guardian would be okay. 

As it was, Tygra was thrown the keys, and was freeing the other ThunderCats, as a host of mook Mutants, as well as the other three ranking ones, poured into the dungeon to see the prisoners all free. 

"Who did this, S-S-Slithe!?" Jackalman exclaimed, as for a minute, everyone stood still, ready to fight. 

S-S-Slithe snarled, "That ocelot brat. His name's Ocellon." His voice mocked the child's name as he spoke. 

Monkian growled. "I'll have his hide! Where is he?!" 

"He went upstairs. You take Jackalman and go find him, Monkian, yeees?" 

"Hoo, you got it!" 

Tygra growled. "I said leave him ALONE!" With that, he lunged. 

After that it was chaos in the dungeon of Castle Plundaar. Though the ThunderCats were unarmed, and Lion-O could not call the Sword of Omens with its closed Eye, they were fighting for their freedom, which made them strong. And they were winning. 

Ocellon was not doing so well. He had finally been cornered by Jackalman and Monkian, who were both grinning smugly. 

"It's the end of the line for you, brat!" Jackalman said. "Who said you could run? S-S-Slithe will have you in the dunking basin before you can say escapee." 

"Hoo, hoo, yeah, and then he'll whip the hide from your bones! He wants you dead after what you did!" 

The cornered child crouched down defensively, desperately trying to cast their distracting words from his mind and to remember what he had learned about fighting from Panthro, and Lynx-O...and it was then that he remembered that he was not unarmed; besides his natural defenses, claws and teeth, he still had his boomerang. 

Growling a kitten's growl at the two Mutants, the cub swallowed his terror at their words, and unclipped the boomerang from his belt. "Stay away from me!" he warned. 

Monkian and Jackalman looked at each other and laughed. Then, they lunged! 

With a sharp cry part of fright, and part a battle cry, Ocellon lashed out with his right hand, claws extended, and was both surprised and pleased to hear Monkian yelp in pain as four lines of blood appeared on his midsection. As the cub ran between the attacking Mutants, using his small size to his advantage, he struck Jackalman in the knee with his weapon. Jackalman howled as there was a bright flash of light from the explosion of energy the boomerang emitted. 

Not having used the weapon in battle before then, Ocellon only stared for a moment as the jackal fell, and the simian growled and came after him. He took it as his cue to leave. 

Meanwhile, the ThunderCats had managed, despite their weakened conditions, to get a few weapons away from the Mutants, including Vultureman's energy blaster, and had managed to escape the dungeon room, locking most of the Mutants in. S-S-Slithe and a few guards remained outside and scattered throughout the Castle. 

"We've got to find Sroya!" Tygra cried, putting his hands on his knees. Knowing Tygra was the boy's guardian, S-S-Slithe had been hardest on him, and had inflicted the most abuse on the tiger. 

"We will, Tygra. We'll find him." Lion-O's face was determined. He, too, was devoid of his shirt. "I just hope it's not too late when we do." 

Ocellon had since made it to the Control Room...followed by three Mutants, S-S-Slithe among them. The terrified cub crouched defensively in the middle, trying to keep an eye on all three. He had practiced multiple adversary fighting with the ThunderCats; he just hoped he could remember.


	14. 

A Cub's Trials 14

As one of the Mutants lunged with his sword, Ocellon screeched in startlement and leapt backwards. He fell on his rear, but was back up quickly enough to avoid the second attack, from S-S-Slithe's ax. He was still as awkward as he had always been, but he had learned to recover fast. He was holding his own t first, and very well considering his size. The two mooks were jackals, and as such, incompetent, as they often seemed to be. S-S-Slithe was the one he had to worry about. 

Ocellon jumped onto the console, then over a jackal's head, whacking him witih his weapon on the way. The boomerang struck squarely on the top, and the jackal was knocked halfway across the room, out cold. He spun around to whack S-S-Slithe a good one on the kneecap. The Reptillian bellowed as a bright flash of light announced the transfer of energy. He hopped around, holding his knee. Had the boy been stronger, the boomeang would have broken his leg. 

"Miserable _wretch!_" S-S-Slithe once again dove at the child, who managed once more to jump out of the way. He was doing well against his larger opponant due to his speed and fast reflexes, but he was getting tired; and he was unexperienced. He spun around to land a backhanded blow to the reptile's gut with his weapon, sending him flying backwards into the wall and knocking the child to the floor with the force of the attack. He stuck his tongue out at the Mutant who had made him so miserable for that long year and a half. He had just knocked him into a wall! How did he like it? 

But as he stood a little shakily, he made a mistake: he turned to look at his guardian, who was approaching fast. 

Tygra saw what happened from afar. He saw the child fighting, then standing up to look. "Watch out!" Tygra yelled, then growled angrily as S-S-Slithe got to his feet, and his tail lashed out and finally knocked the cub's legs out from under him. 

The boomerang fell from the cub's hand, and before he could run, S-S-Slithe tackled him. 

Tygra heard Ocellon scream as the reptile's weight, even only partly landing on him, cracked several ribs. With an angry roar, the tiger grasped the club he had taken from a simian Mutant and started for the Control Room. Snarf and Cheetara were with him, the others having scattered to find the boy. 

Not even hearing or seeing the ThunderCats approaching through his anger, S-S-Slithe took a hold of Ocellon's mane and threw him against the wall, making the injured cub scream again, then shriek angrily for the reptile to let him go. 

S-S-Slithe only snarled and secured the boy to the wall, using a set of shackles lying on one of the consoles. He wouldn't bother with keeping him alive...he would whip the boy to death now. The ThunderCats could watch. 

"LET HIM GO!" Tygra hollered as he ran towards the room. He might not get there in time, but Cheetara could! "Cheetara, go–" 

"Already on it!" she yelled, and with her amazing speed, ran for the room. 

The remaining jackal darted forward and shut the door, only barely managing to lock the woman out, her weakened state having been the only determining factor in the fact that she didn't make it in time. She pounded on it, watching the child struggling to free himself from the shackles S-S-Slithe had put on him to chain him to the wall. Tygra ran up beside her and shouted for them to open the door. 

S-S-Slithe paid him no mind. He was shut in with the boy, and now he was going to make him pay while the rest of the Mutants tried to round up the other ThunderCats. He picked up a cat o' nine tails. 

Tygra screamed for his ward as S-S-Slithe laid the first strike... 

Meanwhile, Lion-O had stumbled upon the armory. Using the keys Ocellon had lifted from the guard, he broke in and found the other ThunderCats' weapons! The Thunderkittens, who were with him, were given their belts and capsules. Both twins were naked, to their humiliation, which had been Mutants' intention. It was okay around Thunderians, but these were lowlifes. Now they wore their belts and nothing else. 

Lion-O found the sword of Omens and unwrapped it. He stepped out into the hall, just as four Mutant guards ran in...and immediately ran out when they saw what he wielded. Lion-O held the Sword up. "Thunder, thunder, thunder..." The sword flashed and lengthened with each utterance of the word. "...ThunderCats, HOOOOO!" 

The Thunderkittens echoed the cry as the Cats' Symbol flashed from the sword and busted through the roof of Castle Plundaar. Any Mutants who saw it knew at that point that they had lost. Most ran. 

"Let's go find the others!" Wilykit cried. The trio ran off. 

Before making their way to the Control Room, Lion-O and the twins found Pumyra, Lynx-O, Bengali, the Snarfs, and Panthro. Together, they looked in the last place in the Castle they had not already scoured. Their eyes flashing as the symbol was cast, they ran for the Control Room. Lion-O would be there soon. 

When they got there, they were horrified to see what was happening. "Lion-O!" Tygra and Cheetara yelled in unison. 

Frantic, Tygra looked at the Sword. "Lion-O, you have to get him out of there!! S-S-Slithe's killing him!" 

Lion-O roared and stood back from the door. "HOOOO!" he cried once more, as a powerful beam of energy blasted through the door, scaring the hell out of both conscious Mutants. "HOOOO!" 

In about three seconds, S-S-Slithe was lying on the floor, and the jackal Mutant had run from the room, whimpering in fright and pain as he held his singed body. 

Lion-O started to go to the boy to get him down, but found himself shoved aside by Tygra. S-S-Slithe had not been pulling his punches with the kid, and at first Tygra thought he was dead. But he was not. Though his pulse was weak and erratic, and his breaths came in ragged gasps, the child was alive. "We gotta get him out of here," Tygra said in a shaky voice. 

Lion-O nodded. "Yes, Tygra. We all have to get out of here. Panthro, can you carry the cub?" 

Panthro nodded and bent to pick him up from where Tygra had released Ocellon and lain him on the ground, kneeling worriedly next to him. 

Just then, S-S-Slithe groaned softly and opened his eyes. Narrowing those slitted eyes, he stood once more while the ThunderCats' attention had been on the ocelot cub. Grabbing his ax from the floor, he swung it at Lion-O's undefended back. 

"Lion-O, look out!" cried the twins in warning. 

The young lord spun around and made a noise of shocked surprise. He should have checked more throughly to see if he had been awake, the cowardly bastard. He had lost his footing in his surprised dodge, and fell to his back, only reaching for the Sword of Omens as S-S-Slithe's ax came crashing down... 

But something stopped him! In two seconds, the ax had been torn from S-S-Slithe in mid-swing by the angry hands of the tiger, and cast away hard enough to lodge in the stone wall. Though beaten and weak, he had the anger of a father who has seen his child hurt, and the adrenaline rush made him far stronger than normal. With a feral cry of rage, he attacked. 

Claws unsheathed, teeth bared in a snarl, Tygra tackled the Mutant, and both went down in a flurry of flying fists, slashing claws, and enraged cries. Though the other ThunderCats were tempted to help, they knew that Tygra had a personal vendetta against the reptile and left him alone to his fight. Revenge is the delight of a mean spirit, as they had often heard...and said...but part of the Coide of Thundera was Justice. And they would let justice be done. Maybe the lizard would think twice about hurting an innocent again. 

Panthro knelt beside Ocellon and he and Cheetara were using the unconscious jackal's tunic to stem the bleeding. It was merciful the child was out cold. 

It was clear the enraged tiger was winning his fight but that didn't stop S-S-Slithe from trying his damndest to inflict injury on the tiger. He had his own claws to work with, and raked them across Tygra's face. He responded only with a growl and a retaliation of his own claws on the reptile's exposed midsection. 

As they fought, S-S-Slithe snarled, "You should've left the whelp to die, ThunderCat, he's just a worthless kitten, the unwanted of the litter!" He had hoped to make the tiger angry enough to lose his control. He had been severely wrong. 

Tygra roared, making everyone in the room jump, and the fists flew. The surprised reptile had no time to fend them off, and soon quit trying to hit back, only blocked, and then covered up his face to avoid the blows. But they didn't stop. Tygra was paying the reptile back for all the abuse he had inflicted on the helpless cub, not to mention him and the other ThunderCats, and he wouldn't stop until he thought S-S-Slithe had an idea what it felt like. Greenish blood flew from the reptile's scaly snout, and dripped from his mouth, and he had started screaming for Tygra to stop. He did not. 

Lion-O finally stepped in and put a hand on Tygra's shoulder after S-S-Slithe had been knocked limp. Tygra growled and shoved him away. "Tygra." More insistantly, Lion-O spoke to his second in command. "That's enough. You've made your point. We need to get Ocellon back to the Lair, and fast." 

That stopped him. Shaking, Tygra stood and spit on the downed reptile, and turned to Panthro, who was carrying the child in his arms. "Let's go." His voice shook as well as the adrenaline stopped pulsing through his body, and he nearly collapsed. But with the others' help, he managed to make it out with his friends. 

"Yeah," Panthro agreed. "Let's blow this joint." 

As the others ran out, headed for the exit, the Thunderkittens decided to leave a little present for the Mutants. They took each a capsule from their belts filled with a caustic chemical and threw them at the console. They ran out to the sounds of anything electrical in there shorting out. Then they bolted. 

It was a long walk to the Lair. 

When the ThunderCats got back, they found the place a wreck. The Mutants and Lunattacks had trashed nearly everything, including the vehicles and equipment. But they weren't concerned with anything yet but the infirmary. 

Working quickly, Lion-O and the others cleaned the place up enough to be useable. They washed down a medical table, on which Panthro laid the child. Pumyra, the one with the most medical knowledge, searched for everything that they needed in the mess, and was lucky enough to find it. While the others watched worriedly, she started tending the badly injured cub. 

Ocellon had lost a lot of blood; he had been whipped badly and the walk had bene a long one, and he was lucky to be alive. But under Pumyra's expert administrations he was stabilized. 

Almost a week later, Ocellon woke up. He didn't scream; he did whimper, but he did not scream. He almost was not strong enough to. "T-T-Tygra?" he asked. He did not even know where he was, and no one was there. But as he looked around, he eventually recognized it as the Cats' Lair infirmary. 

The cub tried to get up, but instantly regretted it. He cried out in pain and started to quietly weep. 

Meanwhile, in the Control Room, Tygra was pacing the floor while Panthro and Lion-O finished the repairs on the computers. They had cleaned up the Lair and the Tower of Omens, and only had a few of the major repairs to finish. "I'm going to go check Sroya," he said. 

Lion-O looked up and smiled at his second in command. "Okay, Tygra. That kid saved our lives, you know that." 

Tygra nodded his head. "Yes. I do." With a small smile of his own, he left the room. He was still recovering himself. 

When he got to the infirmary, he found the child awake, and crying. He looked scared, and in pain. "Sroya!" he exclaimed, and ran to the child. 

"Tygra!" 

Tygra closed his eyes and carefully grasped the child, embracing him as well as he could. Even his gentle movement caused Ocellon to cry out. "Oh, I'm sorry, little one. I'll get you something for the pain." 

Ocellon nodded as Tygra went to the cabinet and prepared a hypo. He injected it into the IV the boy was being fed by and stayed with him, stroking his mane. "Sroya. Thank Jaga you're okay. I thought I'd lost you." 

Ocellon sniffed and clutched Tygra's hand with his own. "No...I'm okay," he said. 

Tygra smiled and kissed his brow. "I know. You'll be fine now." Tygra pulled up a high stool and sat down next to the bed. "Sroya. I am very proud of you. You have no idea how proud. You were very brave." 

Ocellon bit his lip. "No, I wasn't. I was scared. I was too scared to even go there for a lot of days. Nine, I think. I was with the Unicorn Guardians." 

Tygra smiled gently. "That is why you are courageous, little one. Courage doesn't mean you're not afraid. That's foolishness. Courage is doing something you have to even _when_ you're afraid. And you did. You know you saved all of our lives?" 

"I did?" 

A smile. "Yes." 

Ocellon smiled a little bit and yawned. "Good. I don't want you to die." 

Tygra smiled and squeezed the child's hand. "Thanks, little one. You did good. I want you to rest now. We have a few things to take care of once you're recovered." He moved to sit next to the child on the bed and held him. 

The strong painkiller had nearly put the boy out, and he only nodded sleepily and closed his eyes. Once he was completely asleep, Tygra left the room with a thankful sigh of relief, and he turned his eyes upward, silently thanking any dieties that might have exsisted for the boy's recovery. 

"He's going to be fine," he announced happily as he returned to the Control Room. 

"Ocellon?" Lion-O asked. 

"Yes." 

The young lord smiled. "He's awake then. I'm glad. Did you tell him?" 

Tygra grinned. "No. I want him completely recovered first, then I want it to be a surprise." 

Panthro chuckled. "Sounds like a good plan to me." 

Lion-O nodded. "Me too. The Lair and the Tower should be back together and in working order by then." 

Tygra got on his knees and peered at what they were doing. "Let me give you a hand." 

The young lord grinned. "It would be appreciated." 

*** 

It took a couple of months for Ocellon to be completely over the experience; the cracked ribs had taken a while to heal, even with the medical knowlege and technology the ThunderCats had at their disposal. In that time, they all needed to recover, both physically and mentally. Many of them, the younger ones especially, had been subdued and a little timid after the experience, but time and friendship had taken care of it, as is how it should be. 

Ocellon was in the cubs' room, playing a board game with the Thunderkittens. After that last defeat, the bad guys had been pretty quiet, which was lucky for the ThunderCats, as well as the other denizens of the planet. S-S-Slithe had been hurt badly by Tygra's furious attack, and he had needed to recover almost as long as the child he had tormented. The ThunderCats all needed to rebuild and recuperate, and this gave the felines time for cleaning and fixing and recreation. 

Tygra came into the room and said to the Thunderkittens, "Lion-O wants you in the council room, twins." 

"Okay, Tygra," they said in unison. Wilykat grinned and rolled the dice one more time. "I win!" he crowed and grinned at the other cubs as he ran out of the room. 

"Hey...!" Ocellon protested. "I'll get you next time!" 

"Show off!" Wilykit accused. When the twins left, chasing each other down the hall, Ocellon got up and hugged the tiger. After the ordeal, he couldn't reassure himself enough that both he and his guardian were all right. 

Tygra chuckled. "I love you, little one," he said quietly. 

"I love you too," the cub replied. "What's going on?" 

Tygra grinned broadly and pulled the boy away from him to look at him. "Well, I'm headed for the Council Chamber. Why don't you get dressed and meet me there? We have something to do I think you'll be pleased with." 

Ocellon frowned, thinking what it could be. "Okay," he said. "I'll be there in a minute. Is that okay?" 

Tygra laughed. "Yes, Sroya. See you there." 

Grown-ups were weird. That was the conclusion the cub came to as he got up and pulled one of his jumpsuits on; he had been going naked. Ocellon pulled on his boots and wrist guard, and fumbled until he got the belt on. Clipping his boomerang to his belt as Panthro had drilled into his head he should do anytime he got dressed, he made his way to meet his guardian. 

Once he got there, he got an overwhelming feeling of deja-vu. He remembered another time where he opened the council room chamber...and he didn't have to knock first, he thought with a pleased smile...and all the ThunderCats were waiting for him once more. He was a different child even than he had been then and was much more confident this time around. "What's going on?" he asked Lion-O. 

The young Lord of the ThunderCats smiled. "Ocellon. Today I want to talk a little bit about what has happened in the past year." 

A little puzzled, Ocellon only nodded agreeably and went to sit down. 

"No, Ocellon. Remain standing." Lion-O spoke kindly, but not as if he were coddling the boy. Not now. The boy stayed on his feet, seeming to sense a seriousness about this event that had not been there before. "All right, first of all, I know you've been training hard. Panthro has told me you're doing well with the fighting, and Lynx-O and Tygra say you have the Code and duties of the ThunderCats down pat. You fought well against the Lunattacks when they attacked the Lair. And you have been of help on missions. The only thing that you have had a problem with is the Mutants." 

He watched the boy carefully to see if he flinched or cringed at the mention. He was happy to see he did neither, only frowned darkly and nodded. 

"But--" he continued, "Now...Ocellon, I know that you were terrified when we were all captured. You've told me that much. But when we needed you, you were there. Your love for your friends...and your guardian...gave you the courage you needed to face your fears, and gave the Mutants a hell of a fight." 

As the cub watched intently, Lion-O smiled and unsheathed the Sword of Omens. The Eye of Thundera growled, as if in anticipation. "Ocellon, you did it." 

Ocellon stared at him for a minute, then glanced at the Sword of Omens. "You mean..." 

Tygra chuckled, as Lion-O grinned at the boy. "Yes, Ocellon. It does," the young lord said. "Do you swear to uphold the Code of Thundera: Justice, Truth, Honor, and Loyalty? And to help those that need it, and protect those who can not defend themselves?" 

With no hesitation, Ocellon nodded. That sounded like a strong responsibility...but he was willing to do it. 

"Say it." 

Quashing the urge to bite his lip, the cub replied, "I swear." 

"All right." As the child watched in anticipation, Lion-O raised the Sword of Omens. "I, Lion-O, Lord of the ThunderCats, proclaim you on this day a ThunderCat. HOOOO!" As he spoke this, the Sword of Omens flashed brightly and filled the room with a brilliant red light as a small beam of energy projected itself onto the boy's jumpsuit. Where it struck, high on the left side, a red circle appeared, that solidified into a solid insignia with a black cat's head on it. 

Lion-O smiled at the newest addition to the nobles as he examined the new insignia in fascination. "Congratulations, Ocellon," he said warmly, as he resheathed the Sword. 

A little too much in awe, Ocellon didn't say anything for a minute, then looked up and managed a soft, "Thank you, my lord..." Lynx-O had told him of the formalities. 

Tygra, with a broad grin on his face and tears in his eyes, stooped and picked the small cub up into his arm. "Like I said, Sroya, I am very, very proud of you." 

Ocellon burst into tears as he threw his arms around the tiger's neck. "Thanks, Tygra," he said. 

"Way to go!" Wilykat cried. 

"Yeah, you're a ThunderCat, now!" They both were happy for their younger friend...but also liked the idea of not being the youngest ThunderCats anymore. 

"You care to do the honors?" the tiger asked his ward, as he pulled away to look at him. 

For a minute, Ocellon didn't know what he meant, but then he grinned. "Okay," he said, a little self-consciously. In his small cub's voice, with more confidence than he thought he had, he raised his fist and exclaimed, "ThunderCats, hoooo!" 

Echoing off the walls, the cry was answered: "HOOOO!" 


End file.
